Proxemics
by Ninnik Nishukan
Summary: DISCONTINUED.
1. Farewell, Furinkan!

**Proxemics**

By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Chapter One: Farewell, Furinkan!**

* * *

  
So, graduation had finally come. They were all sitting there in their school uniforms, and all the boys were looking tidier than usual. Even Kuno-chan, who more often than not wore his kendo uniform even to class, was looking rather severe, covered in black from head to toe as he was. Sometimes Nabiki wondered who had designed the Furinkan uniform for boys. It looked like they were all attending a funeral and not a happy occasion such as a graduation ceremony should be.

And those tight, black collars _had_ to be uncomfortable. Maybe she could even make a joke about him needing to loosen his collar if he said something stiff and Kuno-like as usual?

_Nah, too lame. _

The uniform for girls, on the other hand, with its little white blouse with the cutesy collar under a blue dress with the big ribbon on the back made all the female students look like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz or some sort of milkmaids or something.

Nabiki sighed. A room full of milkmaids and funeral directors watching a man who thought life was a constant Hawaiian holiday make a speech about how disappointed he was that they were all leaving before he'd had the chance to shave all their heads first.

_Oh, what fun._

In the row in front of her, Kimiko and Momoe were whispering to each other animatedly, occasionally glancing over at Kuno-chan. She caught the gist of the hot topic not because she could hear them properly, but because she saw them pointing surreptitiously first at Kuno-chan, then at his father on the stage.

Nabiki rolled her eyes; Kimiko and Momoe were always flapping their jaws about _something_. Sometimes it was useful to her because she could blackmail them for things she'd overheard them talking about or because she could get juicy rumours from them, but a lot of the time she thought it was really annoying the way they were _always_ talking crap about _someone_. Nabiki didn't actually care for talking about people behind their backs; she was just interested in making money off of the fact that _other_ people did.

Leaning forward, Nabiki poked Momoe in the back; it felt satisfying when she jumped in her chair, startled. "I'll raise your interest rates," Nabiki whispered calmly, leaning nonchalantly back in her chair to watch the expressions of true terror appearing on their now suddenly pale faces.

"Why are you defending that _nutcase_?" Kimiko hissed when she'd put two and two together. She'd always been the gutsier of the two, even in the face of the severe debt they still hadn't managed to pay back to her before graduation.

Nabiki smirked. "Kuno-chan's always been a much better customer than you two."

Kimiko's eyes narrowed with malign intent. "Yeah, I bet he ha—"

"You two wahines bettah not be talking during de big ceremony!" The Principal's voice suddenly boomed.

Kimiko and Momoe froze, probably fearing for their hair. Since they'd been sitting with their backs facing the stage when they were talking to Nabiki, it had been very obvious to the Principal that they hadn't been paying any attention, while Nabiki, facing front and looking quite attentive, got away with it.

There was some sporadic, muffled laughter across the room. Kimiko and Momoe both blushed and tried to become as invisible as possible while the Principal continued in his speech.

From the other side of the room, in the section for boys, Tatewaki looked over at the two girls sitting in front of Nabiki, cowering in their seats, and then at Nabiki herself, relaxing comfortably in her seat and wearing a rather smug grin. He frowned as he wondered what had happened.

Though she never made a big deal out of herself, it always seemed as if she was up to _something_. Or maybe he just had a naturally guarded disposition around her because he knew what she was capable of.

She certainly had a knack for finding your weak spots and exploiting them, but she always did in such a way that you'd find yourself agreeing with what she was saying, almost to the point where it seemed so logical that you thought you'd come up with it yourself.

After a while, though, he'd become less and less gullible around her, calling her on her true intentions; the problem was just that he somehow still found himself complying to her even though he _knew_ what she was up to. Maybe it was because she mostly never actually tricked people in a way that would be harmful to anything other than their wallets. And she _knew _that Kuno Tatewaki had a pretty sizable wallet. And maybe it was because she'd _always_ managed to have something he wanted, whether it was information or photos or notes from class.

In a way, it was going to be quite strange never seeing her again. She was one of the few people except for his peers at the kendo club who willingly talked to him at school, and who even seemed to enjoy doing so. To his great surprise, she'd kept on bothering him with her teasing and her banter even after he'd stopped buying pictures from her and had stopped asking her about her sister last Christmas.

She'd talked to him a little less often, of course, but even so, she'd always seemed to have some sort of excuse to talk to him, whether it was just to make fun of him for something he'd said in class, or to compare their test scores— she almost _always_ did better than him, and loved to tease him about it— or to try to convince him to place a bet with her. Once, she'd even gone as far as asking him if he wanted to partner up for a project, but he'd been so shocked that he hadn't even managed to answer before one of her friends had come and asked her instead.

Sometimes he wondered what would've happened, how Nabiki usually studied and how she treated people working with her. He had a feeling she'd treat him sterner than her friends. She _never_ made things easy for him.

But this was going to be _it_. When this ceremony was over, they never had to return to Furinkan ever again, and Kuno Tatewaki's money would be safe from Tendo Nabiki's greedy hands. The chances were high that he'd never see her again. She'd already been accepted to a school and he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do yet, and since money wasn't an issue, he was going to take some time for himself to figure out his future. He had no family business that forced him to walk a certain path, so he was thinking he might see if there was anywhere he could teach kendo. He knew of a couple of schools in the area where he could apply.

As for love, he was just going to forget about it for a while. Tendo Akane was…_unavailable_ now, and the pig-tailed girl— he felt sick whenever he even thought about how wrong he'd been. How was it even possible not to notice that the girls you were smitten with were not only not interested in you in the least, but were in fact in love with _each other_ because it turned out that one of the girls wasn't even a girl at all, but your very _male_ nemesis?

Kuno wasn't going to fool himself; he was sure he'd be chasing some other girl before he knew it, but at least perhaps he could try to be a little more careful this time.

Gods, this uniform was awful, and the collar was the most horrible part of it, all tight and stiff and choking. Grimacing as he tried to wedge a finger into the collar and loosen it a bit, he felt eyes on him; glancing over at the other side of the room, he locked eyes with Nabiki, who was looking rather amused as she tried to cover up her chuckle with her hand. Feeling discomposed and irritable at the attention, he left his collar alone and tried to get a bit more comfortable in his seat, his face feeling hot as she openly scrutinized him.

Without even really doing anything, and even when in the opposite corner of a room, that girl _still_ had the ability to make him feel stupid. She'd always been just about the only person who always managed to pop his ego like a balloon. How did she _do_ it?

* * *

Principal Kuno had tried to suggest they have a school dance before the graduation ceremony, but nearly each and every student had voted against it. Apparently no one could get out of this school fast enough and away from Principal Kuno, Miss Hinako and the general chaos the school attracted because Ranma was still a student there.

Still, a dance might've been nice, Nabiki thought wistfully, before shaking her head at herself. Correction; a dance at any _other _school might've been nice.

She would've loved wearing a sexy ball gown, though. Something in black. Or red, maybe. Nabiki didn't dress up much usually. For everyday situations she preferred pants, for practical reasons. A lot of other girls spent a lot of time dolling themselves up with frilly skirts and high heels and cute tops, but Nabiki didn't bother. If _she_ was going to dress up, she was going to go all out, and you couldn't exactly go grocery shopping in a cocktail dress. You needed a special occasion, and now she didn't have one.

_Oh well. _She shrugged. With the future she was planning for herself, there would be plenty of special occasions. She'd already been accepted to the business school she'd wanted to go to.

Although…seeing Kuno-chan and the other boys in tuxedos _would've_ been neat as well. The boys in the graduating classes were certainly well on their way to becoming men, and Kuno-chan most of all. He'd always been the tallest boy in their year, and his long, lean face and exceptionally broad shoulders made him look just a little more mature— in which case appearances where deceiving, as Kuno-chan was about as mature as a freshly made piece of cheese— than the other boys, and they'd even asked him a couple of times if he could try and buy cigarettes and beer for them, but of course he always refused to do it, like the total stick in the mud that he was. Nabiki didn't think Kuno had ever been invited to a party during high school, and especially not after his more eccentric behaviour started during second year after Ranma and Akane and his father came to Furinkan.

It might've been interesting to see how he behaved himself in a party situation before she never saw him again. A little send off, kinda.

Nabiki bit her lip, lost in thought. She was going to miss her friends, but most of them, at least the closest ones…well, she _knew_ she'd keep in touch with them, but she had no valid reason to keep in touch with Kuno-chan, and he probably wouldn't even want to.

Kuno-chan, with all of his boastful, showboating behaviour had, in her mind, become sort of a mascot for Furinkan. He was the first thing she thought of when she thought of her school, because he was what she associated Furinkan with. He'd just always been such a powerful presence, had always puzzled, amused and sometimes disgusted her. You might try, but you just couldn't ignore Kuno Tatewaki. She was sure that _everybody_ from her class— and most likely _anyone_ who'd ever been to school with him— would remember him, just like everybody would remember Ranma.

The first time Tatewaki had met Nabiki was on his first day of school at Furinkan, at sixteen. There was something about her mellow, yet mischievous voice, her secretive smile and her somewhat unusual, tilting haircut that told him she might be interesting.

He'd been right about that, but he'd been completely misguided in thinking he might be able to chat her up.

One sentence from him, in his normal speaking pattern, and he'd been on the receiving end of one of the most cynical, cool looks he'd ever seen. Not managing to get out another word after this treatment, he'd simply retreated to his desk, and that had been that.

Other girls would've given him a kind of startled, disbelieving look and started looking around for an escape route, but Nabiki had only appeared as if she was the unfortunate attendant of a particularly boring lecture about pocket lint or something. And she'd never moved. She'd simply waited for him to go away.

One day, though, about a month or two into their first year, when he'd been challenged to a fight in the school yard by one of the older boys and had lost spectacularly, having been knocked totally unconscious, he'd awoken in the nurse's office to find Tendo Nabiki sitting there on a chair next to him.

"What…what happened?"

Nabiki had smirked a little, obviously enjoying herself. "What do you think? You were knocked out."

Blinking and placing a hand to his forehead as he'd tried to sit up, he'd almost gasped when Nabiki suddenly grabbed both of his shoulders, pushing him back down on the sick bed. "The nurse said you should wait for a while before trying to get up."

Tatewaki had felt suddenly self-conscious and a bit irritated at her bossy tone. "Shouldn't you be in class?" He asked sourly.

She'd shrugged as she wrung up a wet cloth and placed it on his forehead. "I got some time off to bring you here."

He'd given her a slightly sceptical, yet surprised look. "I thank you for that, Tendo Nabiki." He'd said, deciding it was probably best to be polite.

She'd only grinned. "Any time, Kuno-chan."

After that, she'd stopped ignoring him. In fact she even actively searched him out sometimes just to annoy him, but the way she addressed him was rude and a bit overbearing and she just wouldn't stop calling him Kuno-chan no matter how many times he ordered her to. He didn't really like her that much. It grated on his nerves every time he heard that wretched nickname and each time she demonstrated that she could outfox him in any situation. Sometimes he even found himself wishing she was a boy so he could challenge her to a fight and knock some sense into her, because he sure couldn't challenge her when it came to school matters.

She always seemed to be one step ahead, especially when it came to maths.

And each time he got knocked out in a fight, it was always Nabiki's bored, exasperated gaze— or her amused smirk, depending on how the fight had gone and what kind of mood she was in— that met him when he woke up at the nurse's office. It was completely humiliating to him, and it was beyond him why she kept doing it. Was she really that much of a sadist?

Tatewaki hated how much she obviously liked making him lose his composure, but at least she made life interesting, if nothing else

* * *

When the ceremony was over and they'd all received their diplomas, Yuki came over to her when they were all hanging around aimlessly outside of school in a sort of collective incredulity— they were_ that_ stunned that they were finally done with Furinkan— and asked her if she wanted to come along with him and the others for some dinner and karaoke.

Hesitating for a second or two, she shook her head apologetically. "You guys go ahead. I have some business to attend to."

Yuki tilted his head a little in bafflement. "Business _now_? Don't you wanna celebrate? It's the end of the evil reign of Principal Kuno! "

Nabiki shook her head firmly. "I need to have a word with Principal Kuno Junior," She explained, pointing her thumb over her shoulder towards Kuno.

Yuki looked disappointed. _"What for?"_ seemed to be the unspoken question in his eyes. Nabiki had always suspected he might have some sort of thing for her, but she just wasn't interested if he did. "Okay, but you'll be along later, right? We'll be at the Karaoke Box after dinner, you know which one."

Nabiki smiled fleetingly at him, nodding. "See you guys later." With that, she turned to speak to Kuno-chan before he left for good.

Tatewaki frowned with confusion as he saw all of Nabiki's friends leaving while she remained, waving goodbye to them. What was she hanging around alone here for? He was even more confused when she suddenly turned and started walking towards him, and he glanced behind him to see if she'd seen someone else she wanted to talk to, but there was nobody there. Glancing apprehensively at the girl's approach, he braced himself for whatever parting words she might see fit to send him off with. It wouldn't be anything actually _mean_, never that, but it would doubtlessly be something that was designed to bug him for the rest of his natural existence.

"Kuno Tatewaki," She smirked as she reached him, tilting her hip as she came to a halt.

"Tendo-chan," He said ironically, letting it slip before he'd gotten to think twice about it.

Nabiki raised her eyebrows at him before she laughed briefly. "How about you take me out to dinner for old time's sake?" She suggested coyly, cutting right to the chase. Then she put on that sugary sweet voice she used when she wanted to be _really_ sarcastic or when she wanted something from him. Or both.

"I'll promise I won't _ever _bother you again, Kuno-chan."

_That's what I'm afraid of._ To his own dismay, it felt like a cold stone had just dropped into his stomach. "Dinner?" He ground out.

This time, she only cocked one eyebrow. "You know, the meal one usually eats after breakfast and lunch?"

He closed his eyes for a second, exasperated. "I mean…why?"

"Because we're both hungry?" She offered in a flat tone.

"Why didn't you go with your friends?" He asked suspiciously.

She chuckled. "My, my, my, we're really asking a lot of questions today, aren't we?"

He pursed his lips in irritation and sent her an impatient look. "Nabiki—"

"I can see them whenever," She interrupted him. "Besides, _they_ can't afford to buy me dinner." She gave him a hopeful smile.

"Why would I buy you dinner?" Kuno demanded.

Nabiki was as unaffected as ever. "I don't know, why _would _you?" She retorted.

"Because I have nothing better to do, apparently," He said in a tight voice. By now, he was growing quite indignant. What did she think she—

"Me, neither," Nabiki joked lightly as she left Furinkan for good, pulling him with her by his sleeve.

TBC.

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**Author's note:** The title _Proxemics _concerns "the study of the symbolic and communicative role in a culture of spatial arrangements and variations in distance, as in how far apart individuals engaged in conversation stand depending on the degree of intimacy between them". (Source: Kuno Asks Questions is a sort of prequel or companion piece to _Proxemics_.

I'm keeping the chapters short for once.

Kimiko, Momoe and Yuki aren't actually characters in Ranma ½, not really; I just needed to make up some names for some of those anonymous students always hanging around in the background near Nabiki.

_Proxemics _is inspired in part by **Richard Lawson's** _Needs and Desires_, and most specifically the scene where Kuno puts Nabiki's name into a poem.

**Later chapters will have mature content. You have been warned.**

**Statement:** There are just too, too few Nabiki/Kuno lemons out there! Hell, there are too few general Nabiki/Kuno stories, as well! **Please write!**

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	2. I Am Not Having Any Fun

**Proxemics**

By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Chapter Two: I Am Not Having Any Fun  
**

* * *

They'd ended up having okonomiyaki and yakisoba at some place just outside Nerima, which made everything with fresh, high quality tomatoes. It seemed as if Nabiki had been there before, as she readily ticked off two or three items for the waitress with only a glance at the menu.

To his relief and surprise, the restaurant wasn't actually all that expensive.

"I found this place last year," Nabiki told him as she ate her yakisoba with every sign of enjoyment. "Everything here is just so delicious!"

"I must admit it is rather enjoyable." Kuno conceded as he took a careful bite out of his okonomiyaki.

"I'm having a parfait later, just so you know," She informed him, grinning indulgently.

"You're saying that as if I have some sort of choice in the matter," He said dryly.

"Yeah," Nabiki slapped his shoulder, chuckling. "You can have one, too!"

Tatewaki just sighed.

* * *

A portion of okonomiyaki, a portion of yakisoba and half a parfait later, Nabiki came to realize that she was flirting with him, just a little. This didn't really shock her as much as it should have; her stomach was getting to be pleasantly full, she had just escaped Furinkan high school with every limb intact and he was looking rather handsome as he sat there in a short-sleeved, white shirt, having taken off the uncomfortable uniform jacket after the first okonomiyaki.  
She felt as if she had every reason to flirt. They were celebrating their graduation, after all, and she would probably never see him again, so what did it matter if she _did _flirt a little?

Besides, he probably wouldn't even notice.

Tatewaki frowned at her as he took a swig of his iced tea. If he didn't know any better, he would think she was flirting with him. She wasn't doing anything _in_ _particular_, there was just something a little different about her voice and her smile, as if they were more genuine; he'd been exposed to her usual brand of flirting before, and this was nothing like it. She'd hopped on top of his desk many a time during recess or lunch, leaning towards him with a playful smirk on her lips, but it had always been so blatantly obvious even to him that she'd been after something, most often his money.

Now, though, she seemed so relaxed in a way that stood apart from her usual casualness that he didn't quite know what to make of it.

"You look so tense," she was saying now as she scooped up a piece of strawberry from her parfait. "Aren't you happy to be out of high school?"

"You seem to be _quite_ happy about it, Tendo Nabiki," He threw back almost defensively, and to his surprise she sank back in her seat, her lower lip jutting out in a slight pout. It was quite disconcerting to see her like that, acting childishly on purpose.

"Jeez, Kuno-chan," She complained, sighing theatrically. "Are you going to be like this all evening?"

"I was not aware that you intended to spend all evening in my company," He pointed out, keeping up their verbal sparring.

"Well, why not?" Nabiki shrugged as she lounged in her chair, licking a bit of whipped cream and chocolate from her spoon. "I don't know about you, but _I'm _having a good time."

"Well, you _would_, wouldn't you?" Tatewaki mumbled. "Since as per usual, you're not the one paying."

For the first time since he'd ever met her, he noticed uncertainty on her features. It was just a flicker, but it had been there. "Are you saying you're not enjoying my company?" She asked coolly, her voice completely steady. "Am I _bothering_ you?"

"You're _always_ bothering me," He blurted. Even before he was done saying it, a hot flush broke out across his cheeks, and he cursed himself. He had _not _intended to say that.

Nabiki blinked as she regarded his suddenly red face. "Good to know," she said calmly as she started on the remains of her parfait.

Ever since before this Christmas, when Ranma had finally had enough and had forced him to listen while he explained everything about his curse to him, Kuno had been just a little different. It wasn't much, but she'd noticed it. Although he still talked like he was about thirty years older than he actually was, he'd cut down a lot on the poetry, and she hadn't heard him make a single speech or an official challenge at school since that. And he never referred to himself as the Blue Thunder anymore; not around her, anyway.  
It probably hadn't helped that Akane had finally made her intentions to marry Ranma one day quite official by kissing Ranma in the middle of the school yard only a month or two before Kuno found out the truth about his darling "pig-tailed girl".

So Kuno-chan hadn't been chasing neither her sister nor Ranma since before Christmas, and he'd been even less trusting of her than usual, if that was even possible. And for some reason, this was troubling her.

"You know…" She began nonchalantly, swirling the dregs of her parfait around with her spoon. The ice cream had melted completely now and had made the cornflakes all soggy. She hated that. "I told you I wasn't going to bother you after this, so I don't see why you can't just sit back and enjoy it?

"I don't see why you are even _doing_ this!" He exclaimed. "Why aren't you somewhere else right now?"

"A free meal." Nabiki said simply, obviously seeing no shame in admitting this. Just as he was about to get angry at her, she lifted her gaze from her dessert and met his eyes. "And I guess I just wanted to say goodbye to you." She smiled wryly. "End it on a high note, you know."

Suddenly it dawned on him that she must've noticed that he'd been trying to avoid her the last few months. Why she cared, though, he didn't know. "But we have never been friends," he protested feebly, utterly undone by her subtle show of actual, human emotions.

"We haven't?" She asked innocently; it was evident that she wasn't really expecting an answer.

Tatewaki exhaled and lifted his glass, downing the rest of its contents. He glared at her for a while. "Is this a _date_?" He demanded eventually.

It was just _so_ like him to assume something like that! Laughing softly, briefly, she then leaned across the table and looked him in the eye again. "Would you _like_ it to be a date, Kuno-chan?"

This time he was sure it wasn't just his cheeks that turned red. It felt like his entire head was pounding with blood. "What I would _like_," he gritted out angrily, "would be for you to stop trying to play these mind games on me all the time, Nabiki."

Nabiki leaned just the tiniest bit closer. "What if it's not a game, then?"

Slumping back into his chair, Kuno let out go of his breath loudly. What in the world was she doing?

Nabiki chewed her lip as she regarded him, flustered like she'd never seen him before. For perhaps the first time during the three year long experience she had in driving him nuts, she started wondering if she'd finally gone too far. If she kept doing this, he was sure to hate her forever. But truth be told, she wasn't even sure herself what she was doing, she only knew that when faced with the sudden reality of Kuno-chan about to do an _exit, stage door left_ on her life for good, she was feeling anything but indifferent about it.

As she looked at him, discomposed and blushing, looking utterly perplexed where he sat, she understood that she needed to tell him something substantial; or else he was going to leave soon. It was just going to be hard to break the habit of always skirting around subjects with him, always teasing when it didn't have anything to do with business. When it came to business, she was always very clear and concise and quick to get to the point. Now, though…what was she supposed to say? She could tell he was quickly getting exhausted by the way she acted.

"Listen, Tatewaki," Nabiki began, frowning at the table top. "Whenever you think about Furinkan in the years to come, who or what do you think is going to come first to mind?"

He looked up. "You," It escaped him before he could stop it, his mind swimming.

Nodding, she tilted her face up and greeted him with a small smile. "_Exactly_." She said softly.

He looked totally flabbergasted at that, his eyes wide and his mouth falling partly open. She hadn't actually said the words, but what she'd obviously meant was that _he _would be the first thing that _she_ would think of. "Nabiki?"

"It's been interesting, right?" Nabiki grinned, eyes dancing across his face. "So I'm here to tell you I'm gonna miss you, Kuno-chan."

Tatewaki was simply stunned. "Uh…" Why was she sitting there, telling him all of this today, when school was over for good? Why had she been torturing him with her bewildering behaviour for three years only to turn around at the very last minute and tell him she was going to miss him?

Gathering his wits about him finally, he straightened up in his chair, searching her expression for an answer. "I do not understand. What is it that you _want_, Nabiki?"

"Right now, Kuno-chan," she purred, smiling sweetly as she leaned closer, "I'm dying for a cup of coffee."

He'd been holding his breath, he realized, as it escaped him in a heavy puff. "Very well." Tatewaki gave up, the very picture of a defeated man.

* * *

"I fail to see what was wrong with the last coffee shop we passed, Tendo Nabiki."

Nabiki looked at him as if he had a screw loose. "Are you kidding? Doutour Coffee charges thirty yen more than Veloce for a regular cup of coffee, not to mention that their cups are smaller!"

Tatewaki rolled his eyes. "Seeing as I will be the one paying for the coffee in any case, I also fail to see why the price should matter to you."

She tossed her short hair. "It's a matter of principle, Kuno-chan! Also, I happen to like their décor better!"

"I like the décor at _Doutour_," he heard himself say, even though he really didn't care for any of the two. He preferred old-fashioned coffee houses, not all these chain stores that kept popping up like neon toadstools.

"If you need something to rest your eyes on, you could always look at me instead," She winked at him playfully.

Tatewaki blushed and looked down, examining their entwined arms. She had insisted, telling him he wasn't a gentleman if he didn't offer his arm to a lady, and his sense of honour had made him unable to refuse.

It really wasn't too bad, this. It was a mild evening out for March, and she was only wearing a thin cardigan over her school uniform; he could feel the warmth of her through the fabric against his arm.

That was another thing; she just seemed more…_physical_ that evening than he could ever remember having seen her be with him, slapping his shoulder when she made a joke, taking his arm like that…

"So, whatever makes you spend all this money on little old me?" She inquired idly as she sipped her coffee when they'd finally managed to track down a Veloce Coffee like she'd wanted, in a big mall.

He scoffed; hadn't she just promised to stop bothering him if he promised to take her out to dinner?

"What are they to me?  
Silver, or gold, or jewels?  
How could they ever equal  
The greater treasure  
That is Nabiki?"

Tatewaki declared sarcastically before looking at her to gauge her reaction; she didn't look impressed at all.

"I know that poem; it's by Yamanoue no Okura. Daddy used to read it to me when I was younger, hoping to take my mind off money. He sure gave up on _that_ a long time ago." She rolled her eyes, smirking briefly. "It's supposed to be 'the greater treasure that is a child', by the way, and besides, if you put my name in it, it's one syllable too long. A tanka poem only has thirty-one syll—"

"I know, I know," Kuno dismissed her irritably. "I was merely improvising."

"Oh-_ho_! _Improvising_?" She grinned in delight. "Getting to be a little _playful_, are we?"

Scowling at her over his coffee cup, he said nothing.

"No, it cannot be!" She said in a falsely grave manner, her eyes round as she uttered a mock-gasp, "If the great Blue Thunder was having any fun, surely the world would be nearing its end!"

"I do not see why it is of such utmost importance to you that I enjoy this evening," He told her, a bit coldly as he was feeling somewhat insulted.

Nabiki clucked her tongue. "The real question here, Kuno-chan, is why it's so important to you that you _don't_."

Tatewaki stared at her critically for a long moment before he spoke. "I do not trust you, Tendo Nabiki." He eventually came up with. Again, it seemed for about a fraction of a second that she looked just the tiniest bit uncertain, but he brushed it off as an optical illusion.

"And I don't really have much reason to trust _you,_ either, considering the way you've acted in the past," She told him calmly. "But I'm not _afraid_ of you, Tatewaki, and I'm beginning to think that _you're_ afraid of _me_."

He coloured, his lips tightening in anger; this girl was simply _insolent_! Calling him, _Kuno Tatewaki_, afraid of someone like _her_, a mere teenage girl? "Why would_ I_ be afraid of _you_?" He pressed out stiffly; not even Saotome had ever made him feel this insulted!

Nabiki meet his furious gaze unflinchingly. "You tell me."

By this point, he was so overtaken by outrage that he couldn't get out a single word, his face turning all sorts of interesting colours.

"I don't mean that you're afraid of me beating you in a fight or anything, of course," She flapped a hand dismissively, "And even if you make a big deal out of how much it annoys you, you're not afraid of losing your money to me, either, like everybody else is, which is probably because you've got more than enough money already, but still…I feel like I intimidate you in some sort of way." She just kept on looking him straight in the eyes, and it was utterly unnerving. "Why is that?"

"You are imagining things." He said evenly.

"Is it because you have to talk to me like a normal person because I don't run away from you like the other girls? Is that it?" Nabiki leaned her chin on her elbow, regarding him curiously.

He was stumped. "Girls don't run away from me," He said after a while, but he sounded anything but self-assured.

Nabiki leaned back heavily in her seat and looked at him as if he was some sort of child who'd made the same mistake for the third time despite her previous warnings. "Kuno-chan," She began diplomatically. "I know you're tall and rich and kind of handsome and all that, which is probably why your ego has been able to grow in such an uninhibited way, but you don't exactly have dozens of admirers standing in line outside your house, do you?"

To his own alarm, he could feel a lump forming in his throat. What was she trying to do to him? How could she be so _cruel_? And why didn't he have a reply?

"Listen, I'm just trying to figure out why you're so hostile towards me," She explained when she saw the look on his face. Trying to give him time to recuperate, she took a slow sip of her coffee. "Do I challenge you too much?"

Glad to have the focus of the conversation moving away from himself, he gave a sort of disbelieving snort at that, laughing in a dry manner. "Do you? I must not have noticed!"

"Am I too honest?" She went on, raising an eyebrow.

Again, he had to laugh, though it didn't sound all that mirthful. "Oh, no! Not at all! You only utter every single little piece of criticism concerning me that happens to be crossing your mind at the time! And of course you _always_ stop to consider the effect your little comments may have on a person before you speak!" He added with icy sarcasm.

Nabiki smirked just the tiniest little bit. "So…you don't feel hostile at all, then, right?"

* * *

When they'd finished their coffee, Nabiki insisted that they had to have their pictures taken in a photo booth. They were never going to see each other again, she reminded him cheerfully, and so they simply _had_ to have some souvenir photos!

Despite his valid argument that those kinds of photo booths were supposed to be reserved for girls— what with their pink and yellow design and cute little electronic pens you could decorate the photos with before they were printed— in the end he found himself staring into a camera screen. Since she'd even paid for it out of her own pocket, which was a very rare occurrence indeed, he'd figured she must really want to do this silly thing. Okay, so it was only 400 yen, which barely even covered the parfait she'd had, but still…she'd surprised him.

"But I _love_ taking pictures!" She'd pouted, tugging at his jacket sleeve.

"I _know_." He'd replied darkly before she'd pulled him into the booth. Her so-called _love_ of taking pictures had certainly cost him a pretty penny over the course of their acquaintance.

So now he was supposed to _smile_?

That was what the horrible, robotic voice wanted him to do, anyway. Get ready for the next picture, folks!

The first picture had him looking tortured while Nabiki grinned toothily, looking highly amused, and the second one had him covering his face with his hands while Nabiki rolled her eyes.

"Kuno-chan!" She scolded him. "This costs money, you know! _My_ money! So c'mon, be a man!"

Kuno gave her a look that managed to communicate to her that he was finding it very difficult to be a man surrounded as he was by pink and yellow flowers while a frighteningly cheery recorded voice was telling him what to do. It was the sort of look that should be preserved for posterity.

And it was.

The next picture had Nabiki shoving her elbow into his side in annoyance for ruining the picture before and him with bulging eyes and a gaping mouth over the unexpected assault.

In the next one, he was yelling at her while she was looking quite bored and unfazed.

For the last picture, she found quite an effective way of shutting him up as she attached herself to his arm, smiling in a friendly way at the camera as she held up the victory sign; in the last picture, he was simply looking down at her, somewhat befuddled.

Nabiki laughed until she was almost crying when she saw the results, but sobered immediately as she noticed his complete lack of any humoristic sense. "Oh, come on, it's hilarious!" She prompted, giving him a sour look when he didn't even smile.

"At least you're not spitting beans in my face this time," He remarked, and she stuck out her tongue at him, grimacing.

"How can anybody this young be this lame?" She muttered as she cut the strip of pictures into small squares with a pair of scissors from the picture booth. "I expect you don't want any of these, then?"

Looking at the pictures she was offering, he surprised both himself and her when he actually accepted them. "Thanks," He mumbled as he stuck them into his jacket pocket, clearing his throat.

Nabiki smiled smugly as she put her own share of the photos into her handbag.

TBC.

**Author's note:** The okonomiyaki restaurant where they make yakisoba and okonomiyaki with tomatoes is real. It's a small restaurant chain in Japan. I don't remember the name, but it had the best yakisoba I've ever tasted! Drool.

March is the month for graduation in Japan.

Doutour and Veloce are well-known coffee houses which you can find practically everywhere in Japan; especially Doutour.

Those high-tech, Japanese picture booths are fun.

Nabiki laughed so hard she spit the sweet beans she was eating in Kuno's face in episode 4 of Season 1, when he told her he wanted her to give Ranma (whom he of course thought was another person; the mysterious pig-tailed girl) a cute little doll from him.


	3. By The Time It Gets Dark

**Proxemics**

By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Chapter Three: By The Time It Gets Dark

* * *

**

"Nabiki, I cannot see why—"

Tatewaki cut himself off abruptly when he found himself staring right into the face of one of his classmates, or more accurately, one of Nabiki's friends— what was his name…oh, yes; _Yuki_— passing them on the escalator next to theirs, which was going down, while Yuki and some other of Nabiki's friends were going up. The look on Yuki's face was a little unsettling as he stared openly at them, obviously not quite believing his own eyes.

"Hi!" Nabiki only smiled and waved happily at her friends as they passed, making a _"call me"_ gesture to one of the girls; Michiko, he thought her name was. Funny how there were several of his classmates' names which he had to think about first if he were to recall them, despite the fact that they'd been attending the same class for three years now.

Nabiki sighed to herself when her classmates had passed. Judging by the look on Yuki's face, he was going be in a sulk around her for a while. Ever since he'd seemed to decide sometime this year that he might be interested in her, he'd been a little awkward to be around. He was a very nice guy and they'd been friends since first year, so it was all a little frustrating for her, since she couldn't just dispose of him with blackmail the way she did with random guys who tried to date her. Why did Yuki suddenly want to try and date _her_ for?

Then again, he hadn't actually _asked_ her yet, and with any luck he'd refrain from ever doing so if he drew his own conclusions about seeing her with Kuno-chan.

Nabiki hoped so, especially considering that Michiko, completely unbeknownst to Yuki, really wouldn't mind dating him. Michiko would definitely be calling her the next day, dying to know why she was spending their graduation night with Kuno Tatewaki of all people instead of with her friends.

Nabiki wasn't quite sure what to tell her, though. She almost felt like she was just floating along, now, simply moving forward without thinking of her destination. All she knew was that she was having a good time, even if Kuno-chan wasn't.

But she wished he was. He really _did_ need to loosen up.

Of course, maybe it was just her. Maybe _she_ was the reason why he was like this. Then again, who actually _could_ make Kuno-chan act relaxed? When he wasn't making fevered, megalomaniacal speeches, which he hadn't really done much of lately, he was just so stiff and formal! Nabiki was sure he had the most ramrod straight posture she'd ever seen outside the Imperial Guard.

"What were you saying earlier, Kuno-chan?" Nabiki turned to him as they stepped off the escalator.

He halted. "I…I seem to have forgotten."

Nabiki shrugged. "Okay, so where do you wanna go now?"

"Nabiki, were you supposed to be with your friends tonight?" He asked, frowning at her.

Drawing a breath, she rocked a little on her heels, pretending to consider his question. "Nope, not really. They asked and I declined."

"Yuki certainly looked surprised." He commented suspiciously.

"Well…" Nabiki conceded playfully. "I might've said I'd be along later to meet them if I had the time…"

Tatewaki's forehead creased with frustration. "Then why are you not attempting to catch up with them?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm not really in the mood for karaoke."

"All right…" He nodded slowly. "Then _what_?"

Nabiki grinned from ear to ear. Probably without even thinking about it, he'd just invited her to stay in his company! He'd never admit it, but he must've really been having a good time, after all.

"Let's go to the arcade."

* * *

Tatewaki couldn't believe his own eyes. They'd made an _arcade game_ out of the noble art of taiko drumming! Was_ nothing_ sacred any longer?

He was just about to open his mouth to protest this insolence when Nabiki turned to him, a challenging smirk on her lips.

"Care to make this interesting, Kuno-chan?" She said, tilting her hip and tossing her hair. "I'll bet you a thousand yen you can't beat me at this game."

"Nabiki, this is obviously a game intended for children," He objected, trying to reason with her.

"Well, the world must certainly be in a sad state of affairs if _you_ think you can't even beat me in a little kiddie game." Nabiki taunted, tossing her hair again.

Tatewaki groaned, rolling his eyes. "Fine. If you truly wish to part yourself from a thousand yen..."

Nabiki chuckled. "Famous last words." She said, holding out her hand expectantly.

Tatewaki blinked. "What now?"

"The game costs 200 yen, Kuno-chan," Nabiki said sweetly.

Huffing, he handed her the money and waited for her to start up the game. "Okay, this is pretty easy," Nabiki said, handing him a couple of wooden drumsticks tipped with blue rubber. Hers were red. "Everything is controlled by the drum sticks," She went on, beating her drum to work her way through the game menu until she got to the demo. "Whenever you see a little red circle on the line there, you hit the middle of the drum with one stick. Whenever a _larger_ red circle appears, you hit the middle of the drum hard with _both_ sticks. Whenever a little _blue_ circle comes up you hit the _side_ of the drum with one stick like _this_," She said, demonstrating, "And whenever a big, red _sun_ pops up, you hit the drum with both sticks for as long and as fast as you can, like a drum roll, until the sun goes away again."

"Okay," she grinned excitedly at him. "You ready?"

Kuno just grunted, nodding. He'd paid careful attention to the demonstration, because he reasoned that if he really _had_ to play this stupid little game, he wanted to be able to _beat_ her at it. She'd already taken enough of his money for one evening.

Clutching his drumsticks, he winced when the song started up. It was the Doraemon theme song. He knew this because almost every child in Japan, even he, had heard it at some point in their lives. Trying to concentrate over the distraction of the sugary sweet lyrics and the cheerful melody, he missed the third and tenth little red circles, while Nabiki happily drummed away quite perfectly.

The Doraemon theme song was slow and easy and so she won the first round because she'd played it before and he had no advantage in being faster than her, his annoyance at the song— and the fact that he'd been persuaded to play the game in the first place— ruining his concentration.

Nabiki smirked triumphantly when their scores were counted up and hers was considerably higher.

Round two was different, though. The song was much faster, and he was beginning to get a feel for the game. Nabiki's obvious experience with the game helped her to keep up with him, but his speed made him almost beat her; she won by barely five points.

Nabiki looked over at Kuno-chan, studying his profile. He was obviously getting into the game, leaning forward with a determined glint in his eyes, his knuckles whitening around the drumsticks. It was funny, really, the way he could take even something like _this_ that seriously. Oh, well, Nabiki thought, she'd better give him a run for his money, then.

The next song she knew; it was an old favourite of hers from junior high school, and her head hips swayed a little as she readied herself, getting into the rhythm, her head nodding along to the song.

"BOP! BOP! THUMP! BAM!"

Kuno-chan matched her beat by beat, hitting the first two little red circles, the little blue one and then the big, red one and she grinned to herself as she too leaned forward like some sort of bicycle racer, hunched over the big drum.

"BOP! BOP! BOP! BOP! BAM! THUMP! BAM!"

Their drumsticks beat in unison. Tatewaki pursed his lips in grim determination. One of those big red suns was coming up, and he was going to show her what a _really_ fast drum roll sounded like.

Rolling his shoulders briefly, he readied both drumsticks.

"…badabadaBADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADAH!"

Nabiki halted, her own drum solo drowned out by the positively _otherworldly_ sounds that Kuno-chan was producing next to her. Gaping at him, she saw his hands blurring, moving like the wings of some sort of demented humming bird on a sugar high. Instantly, every pair of eyes in the arcade were upon them.

Nobody could've _ever_ possibly have managed to cram that many beats into a drum roll before. _And maybe there's a reason for that_, she thought absently when there was a loud, strange ripping sound as Kuno's hand, drumstick and all, went _clean_ through the drum.

Staring down at the broken drum, completely bewildered, Tatewaki wondered what had happened. It wasn't even made of canvas; it was made of rubber or something, wasn't it, so how could he have _possibly_…?

"Kuno-chan," Nabiki asked carefully, slowly replacing her drumsticks on their hanger. "Do you know how much it would cost to replace an arcade game?"

"Uh…" Tatewaki mumbled, still staring.

"Me, neither," She shook her head, taking the drumsticks from his unresisting hands and putting them away. "So I suggest we'd better get out of here!" She whispered urgently, grabbing his arm and dragging him with her out of the arcade at top speed, her heart beating as fast as his drumming at the thought of the size of the damage bill.

* * *

"Jeez, Kuno-chan! You're _insane_!" She laughed where she stood, doubled over as she tried to catch her breath from running; she hadn't wanted to stop until they were far, far away. "What the hell was _that_? Martial Arts _Arcade Game Drumming_?"

Her heart was still beating madly and she felt completely exhilarated. This guy was just so…so…he was just from a _completely_ different dimension!

Now that he'd recovered from the shock of breaking that drum, Tatewaki was fuming. Not only had he lost to Tendo Nabiki once again, but now she was laughing at him! "It's all your fau—!" He began hotly, but another gale of laughter from her cut him off.

"Oh, I wish I could've seen the look on the manager's face!" She had to hang onto his arm now because she was laughing so hard, barely able to talk. "On— on second thought, st-strike that! I d-don't think I'll be— be going back _there_ anytime soon!" She wheezed. "Think of— think of all th-that _money_!"

Tatewaki blinked as he noticed a subtle, but very crucial aspect about the way she laughed. Strange; it seemed less _smug_ than usual, didn't it? There was a certain rough edge missing in her laughter, and it gave him associations to a merry, babbling brook instead of to somebody scratching a violin bow across his nerves as it usually did. It sounded, in fact, quite contagious…

The corners of his mouth were twitching now and as he cleared his throat to cover this up, Nabiki could hear the hint of a chuckle trying to escape him. Her fingers itched as she, for one mad moment, almost considered tickling that stubborn laughter right out of him.

It was an inescapable fact that Kuno Tatewaki was what you might call conventionally handsome, in a way where you could make a little list of features that were typically considered attractive in men and check off a lot of little boxes beside each feature— _Tall? Check. Broad shoulders? Check. A nice, full head of hair? Check. In good shape? Check. Good posture? Double check— _but those thingsdidn't necessarily make a man interesting to women.

Kuno-chan had always been handsome in a general way that was easy to dismiss, not only because of his infamously eccentric mannerisms, but especially because his formal, stony attitude, his self-involved nature and the way that he was too conservatively well-groomed for his age made him pretty in the way that porcelain figures were pretty, in the same way that you might say a Ken doll was handsome.

You could see the classic aesthetic qualities, sure, but that didn't make them _attractive_ or _interesting_. It was easy, it seemed, for Furinkan girls to bypass Kuno-chan's good looks. Technically, he was more stereotypically handsome than Ranma, but Ranma was more _attractive_ and _interesting_.

To _them_, anyway, Nabiki thought as she watched the Blue Thunder's icy façade develop hairline cracks as he fought against laughter. He'd be able to hold it in, but it would be only just. There was more to Kuno-chan than looking like a Ken doll.

With her, he seemed less like some sort of tasteless parody of himself and more like a real human being.

No modern, eighteen year old girl in their right mind would want to date a boy their own age who saw himself as some sort of noble protector of women and acted like a fifty-year-old with no apparent sense of fun whatsoever, and so Kuno-chan remained single.

Her own cynical manner of thinking had her feeling a little too old at times, but she had friends to remind her of her true age. He didn't have that, and the self-important formality of the kendo club only reinforced his old-fashioned behaviour. With her, she'd realized, he tried to act even _more_ like some kind of middle-aged, conservative aristocrat or something, but he only ended up looking more like a normal teenage boy than ever.

With her, he could almost be considered _cute_.

And he was definitely interesting.

There was a kind of glowing warmth there, somewhere, which would reach his eyes any second now.

And there it was, if only briefly. Before he cleared his throat again, he'd smiled, and she was sure it had been with his eyes as well as his lips.

For once, Tatewaki realized, she'd been laughing _with_ him instead of _at _him, which was why he'd almost joined her in her mirth. What with living at the Tendo Dojo and all, he supposed she was too used to seeing enough random property damage to bother getting mad at him for breaking that infernal machine. He'd seen her laugh before, but never this naturally and seemingly without any ill intentions.

Tendo Nabiki's face dissolved with _that_ kind of laughter was a sight that made him feel _very_— she looked _very_—

He hadn't known she _could _look like that.

"Where to now?" He asked as she finally sobered, letting go of his arm.

"Well, it's getting dark," Nabiki smiled coyly. "Why don't I walk you home?"

"You are a girl," Tatewaki pointed out somewhat snippily. "You are the one who is supposed to require an escort."

There it was again. Mighty Blue Thunder, Protector of Women. "Has anyone ever told you how old-fashioned you are, Kuno-chan?" She asked, looking impatient as she tapped her foot.

"You have." He dead-panned. "On numerous occasions."

"Well, why didn't you _listen_, then, silly?" She said smoothly, slipping her arm through his, leading him away before he had a chance to object.

"I do _not _need to be followed home, Tendo Nabiki." Said Kuno eventually, scowling at her meaningfully. It was bad enough that she'd lost to her in something as silly as an arcade game, and he certainly didn't need her to act like he had to be walked all the way to his door like some little kid on top of _that_.

"Then simply think of it as you escorting _me _halfway to _my_ house," Nabiki suggested cheerfully.

"Is that supposed to make any sense?" He asked sceptically.

"By the way, you owe me a thousand yen." She reminded him, completely ignoring his question.

Kuno released a slightly put-upon sigh, but said nothing as they strolled down the street. She was the most frustrating thing he'd ever come across, but it really wasn't too bad, this, he thought as she squeezed his arm. Someone like him _should_ have a lady on his arm, shouldn't he? He couldn't help thinking, though, how strange it was that _she_ was the _first_ lady to ever attach herself there.

Frowning, he wondered wretchedly if maybe she hadn't had a point about the lack of a line of admirers outside his house. There was no denying the fact that despite his good looks, his riches and his kendo skills, he had never actually had a lady to walk home with before, and he'd _certainly_ never had a girlfriend.

He _really_ didn't like thinking about that. _Logically_, he _should_ have had one by now, so he couldn't quite understand why he hadn't. He was _eighteen_ now! He'd just graduated and was forced to face the reality that he'd just gone through the entirety of high school without ever even _kissing _a girl! That was _beneath _him! Wasn't it about _time_ now for Fortune to finally shine upon Kuno Tatewaki?

Excluding his various pseudo dates with 'the pig-tailed girl', spending these past few hours with Tendo Nabiki was the closest thing he'd _ever_ been to a date, and despite all of his complaints and despite himself, he'd been gradually starting to enjoy it.

It was only a pity it was all about to end.

**TBC.

* * *

**

**Author's note:** A thousand yen isn't much. It's about 8,50 $ or 6,60 Euro (source: X-E currency converter, nov, 2006) but Nabiki probably wouldn't want to bet too much since it wasn't really meant to be a very serious bet, and also, since she's just a high school graduate with no job yet, a thousand yen isn't that _little_, either.

**Taiko: **The word **taiko** means simply "drum" in Japanese (etymologically "great" or "wide drum"). Japanese taiko drums, while having antecedents in Chinese and Korean drums, have developed into a wide range of percussion instruments that are used in both Japanese folk and classical musical traditions.

In feudal Japan, _taiko_ were often used to motivate troops, to help set a marching pace, and to call out orders or announcements. According to one of the historical chronicles, nine sets of five beats would summon an ally to battle, while nine sets of three beats, sped up three or four times is the call to advance and pursue an enemy. (Source: Wikipedia). Lots of arcades in Japan have the drumming game.

**Doraemon: **A time-travelling, blue, robotic cat with no ears and a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach that hold basically everything. He occasionally has a propeller, the take-copter, on his head. Japanese children's show. You've probably heard of it.

_By The Time It Gets Dark_ is a song by Yo La Tengo.

The term _pseudo date_ is stolen from Kevin Smith's _Chasing Amy._

**And I'm gonna say it again:** There are just too, too few Nabiki/Kuno lemons out there! Hell, there are too few regular Nabiki/Kuno stories, as well!

**Please write!

* * *

**


	4. Food For Thought

**Proxemics**

By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Chapter Four: Food For Thought**

* * *

When they finally reached the Kuno estate at the end of their leisurely stroll and she had to let go of Kuno-chan's arm so he could get his keys to unlock the front door, Nabiki suddenly felt like one of those stupid, old cartoon characters who would be walking merrily off of a cliff and straight into thin air until they realized they'd run out of solid ground.

She hadn't run out of solid ground, but she was about to run out of _time_.

This was _it_. He'd bought her dinner, he'd bought her dessert, he'd bought her coffee, they'd had their pictures taken and they'd gone to an arcade…and it was getting late and she was running out of excuses.

Her own family was expecting her home soon, and in an hour or so, daddy would start wailing about his little baby Nabiki being kidnapped or something.

But she still hadn't _talked_ to Kuno-chan. Not really. And there were a few things she wanted to know before they parted their ways for good.

Even with all of their 'business transactions' during high school, and even if he'd come to visit the Tendo Dojo many a time (usually uninvited), she'd never been inside his house before. There were several reasons for this. One, Principal Kuno, two, Kodachi, three, she'd always been a little wary about what kind of ideas Kuno-chan might get into his head if he got a girl alone with him in his house, and four, there had just never really arisen an occasion for it.

Now, though, she felt there really was a valid occasion. Besides, she was kind of curious about what the interior of his house looked like.

"Aren't you going to invite me in for a cup of tea?" Nabiki asked casually, although she was feeling anything but casual.

"Nabiki," Tatewaki said seriously, "My father is out and my sister left for a gymnastics tournament a couple of days ago."

Nabiki blinked. "And…?"

"We would be all alone," He explained, clearing his throat in slight embarrassment. "It simply would not be proper."

She was about to laugh at him again for being so old-fashioned when it struck her right out of the blue that it might not be about having an outdated attitude towards manners concerning the other gender at all. Normally Kuno would be nothing but forward when it came to girls, humiliating himself willingly by spouting poetry loudly and chasing them and even going so far as to initiate physical contact, so she couldn't imagine that he'd be _shy_ about simply inviting her into his home for a cup of tea, of all things.

Kuno Tatewaki wasn't exactly known for being _shy_.

…which meant that the real reason for declining her suggestion might only be that now, when having fulfilled his end of the bargain by taking her out to dinner, he no longer wished to spend any more time in her company if he didn't have to.

While not vain, she knew she was blessed with quite striking looks; enough boys had unsuspectingly asked her out on dates to let her know this. She had a pretty face, good skin, nice hair, long legs and a curvy figure, so there couldn't be anything wrong with her in _that_ aspect.

Tendo Nabiki had a very healthy amount of confidence, so she didn't let herself get discouraged very easily, but maybe…maybe he just _didn't like her_. In fact, once during second year after one of his first fights with Ranma, he'd actually said that he _hated_ her. She hadn't cared much at the time since he was obviously having a hissy fit over losing the fight, but now she had to wonder…maybe he really _did _hate her?

After all, he'd been doing nothing all evening but complain about how much she bothered him and how much fun he _wasn't_ having, so—

"Well, then," She said, managing to sound nonchalant. "I guess this is it."

"It would appear so." Tatewaki agreed, his face carefully blank.

"It's been fun." Nabiki went on, clutching her handbag.

"Yes." He said, and she couldn't quite tell whether he really meant it or if he was just being polite.

"Goodbye, Kuno-chan." She said finally; she saw him opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then he just shut it, nodding instead.

So Nabiki turned on her heel and left.

* * *

Tatewaki was pacing in his room.

Somehow, and he really couldn't imagine why, he'd thought that she'd do…_something_ before leaving. He didn't know what, exactly, but just _something_.

Not _nothing, _anyway; not just leaving like that with barely a 'goodbye' thrown his way.

And he hadn't even been able to respond with anything. His last words ever spoken to Tendo Nabiki hadn't been able to form in his mind and hadn't been able to leave his mouth and now it felt very…unsatisfying. It felt like unfinished business.

Maybe that was what she'd meant to bother him with for the rest of his life? That he never got to tell her goodbye properly? Never got any closure?

That was absurd, though, even for her. She couldn't possibly have planned for him just to stand there like a slab of granite, unable to utter a single syllable.

He'd been a little thrown, though; there had suddenly seemed to be something he'd said or done that had made her lose her pep, and it had probably been the fact that he'd turned down her suggestion of letting her inside his house for a cup of tea.

Maybe _that_ was why he suddenly felt as if there was a lack of closure? What would've happened if she had stepped inside his front door? What would've happened if she'd come upstairs for a cup of tea?

…and perhaps that was why he'd said no? Because he _didn't_ know what would happen? He still had no clue as to why she _really_ wished to be in his company and what her plans for him had been and perhaps that had scared him.

But now he would never know what might've happened, what she might've had to say to him, why she'd even asked to come inside in the first place.

Why had he said no to her?

_Perhaps she's right,_ he thought wretchedly; _perhaps she really does intimidate me…_

He shook his head angrily as he strode across his room, pulling the uncomfortable uniform jacket from his back to fling it across a chair. No, that would be too unbearable of a thought, and he refused to let it confuse him for the rest of his days!

She would not have him waste valuable time wondering about what she might've said or done when he had things to do, a life to lead and—

—and he would really have to move out of this ridiculously big, empty house one of these days. He wanted to shout out his frustrations, but he began to be afraid, and perhaps not for the first time, but more than ever, of hearing no reply but his own voice echoing back to him in the vast, chilly halls of his house.

He really needed someone who could listen to him vent.

"Master Kuno?"

Tatewaki almost jumped at the voice, but caught himself just in time. Of course. Sasuke. How could he have forgotten about his loyal servant?

Sasuke had already sensed what a foul mood his master was in, and so he was approaching cautiously as he entered the room.

"If I may be so bold," He began timidly, "What's wrong, Master Kuno?"

Tatewaki shook his head. "It's Tendo Nabiki, she's…she's just—"Sighing irritably, he waved a hand dismissively. "I do not know." He felt nonplussed; he'd had the urge to rant, but now he was simply lost for words.

Sasuke tilted his head, regarding his master with concern. He'd seen him annoyed over the middle Tendo daughter before, but he usually had a very definite idea of _why_ he was annoyed, and he was usually angrier about it; now he just seemed frustrated and confused.

"Perhaps," Sasuke went on thoughtfully, not knowing what else to say, "Perhaps you could meditate on the matter?"

Kuno scoffed, saying nothing as he simply glared at the ninja.

"All right," Sasuke cleared his throat. "Maybe not. But how about reading a little?"

Tatewaki sighed a little, walking over to his desk to sit down. "I might as well," He muttered. "Perhaps it would help take my mind off…uh…well. Yes. I think I'll read a little before bed."

Sasuke nodded, satisfied. "Shall I fetch you some tea, Master?"

Kuno winced. Right now, he could've been having tea with— "No, thank you, Sasuke. Just a glass of water, please."

"Right away!" Sasuke said, disappearing quickly.

Pulling out a book of some of his favourite poems from the shelf above his desk, Tatewaki opened it at a random page and began to read the first poem he laid his eyes on.

_We met but for a moment, and  
I'm wretched as before;  
The tide shall measure out my life,  
Unless I see once more  
The maid, whom I adore._

Grunting in frustration, Kuno threw the book down to the floor. 

Okay. Reading that _really_ hadn't helped at all.

* * *

When she got home, Nabiki kicked off her shoes, dodged Happosai, who was heading out the door, ducked to avoid getting hit by a cup that was meant to hit the ancient pervert, greeted her father, who had thrown the cup and was apologizing profusely to her, side-stepped to get out of the way of Genma and Ranma, who were fighting over a piece of food again, and snatched a biscuit from a tray that Kasumi was carrying into the living room.

During all this, she didn't bother to cover up the slightly upset expression on her face, because in that kind of chaos, who would notice?

Akane, however— who was usually very sensitive towards other people's feelings, except for a blind spot where Ranma was concerned— did notice as their eyes met when she was coming down the stairs.

"How was the ceremony, Nabiki?" Akane asked hesitantly when she saw her sister, a curious and slightly concerned look on her face.

"Principal Kuno did the ceremonial speech." Nabiki told her little sister dryly as she brushed past her on her way up the stairs. "If I said you had something to look forward to next year, I'd be lying."

"Nabiki?" Akane tried again. "What's—"

"It was a blast," Nabiki cut her off sarcastically.

Nabiki tried to ignore the way her sister stared after her as she went up the stairs.

* * *

The second she stepped into her room, the telephone rang.

"This is Tendo Nabiki. How may I help you?"

"_What was **that** all about?" _

Despite her bad mood, Nabiki had to grin. Michiko had always had a tendency to blurt out what was on her mind without even as much as a greeting first. "I assume you're curious about today, right?"

"_What were you doing with **Kuno**?" _

Nabiki winced at the negative implications that Michiko put into his name, and was glad the other girl couldn't see her. Nobody actually _liked_ Kuno-chan, did they? "Just tying up a few loose ends," Nabiki said evasively.

"_Don't tell me you're still trying to wring his money out of him?"_ Michiko said incredulously. _"I know it's only Kuno, but jeez…! Leave a guy **alone**, won't you?"_

Michiko hadn't meant for that to be an insult, but Nabiki could still feel the dig. Yes, she _should_ have. She should have just _let him be_. "Michiko," She said, managing to keep her voice even, "I think you should try asking Yuki for a date."

The other end of the line went silent for a while, then: _"I don't think it's me he's interested in."_

Nabiki smiled just a little. "Don't worry. I don't think he wants to date me anymore."

"_Really? He told you this?"_ Michiko asked hopefully.

She _could_ lie, but it would most probably backfire. That was one thing living with Saotome Ranma had taught her. Dishonesty tended to be followed by chaos in her household. "No," She chuckled. "But if he asks about Kuno, you might want to hint towards me already being taken."

A scandalized gasp. _"Nabiki, don't tell me—you're not—"_

"_Really_ not," Nabiki said tightly before she forced her voice into a mellower vein. "But Yuki doesn't have to know that. I'm just trying to do you a favour here, Michiko."

Michiko's laugh sounded a little too relieved, which bugged her for some reason. _"Okay. Thanks, Nabiki."_ Her friend cleared her throat then. "And just how much will it cost me to be able to lie to Yuki about Kuno being your boyfriend?"

Nabiki smiled. "Well, there will be some social stigma on my part, but let's just say two thousand yen since it's you."

* * *

Kuno couldn't sleep.

He couldn't stop thinking about the day he'd found out the truth about Saotome Ranma.

He'd noticed, in fact, that every single time he'd felt stupid for the three or four months he'd known the truth, his thoughts went involuntarily to that very event, when Saotome had cornered him in an empty classroom and had forced him to listen to his story. Because he'd never felt so stupid in his entire life as he had then, and every time he felt even a little bit of that same feeling now, the memories appeared in his brain like a conditioned response. Just like he'd automatically sliced the hell out of a watermelon every time he saw one before, now he got an instant replay of the most humiliating event of his life each time he felt things he didn't want to feel.

Except now, instead of seeing the horror vision of his 'glorious pig-tailed girl' turning into that vile Saotome Ranma again and again like a broken record— the horrible boy had thought him so dense that he'd shown him the transformation a good six or seven times even after his explanation before he figured he'd understood it, and even then he'd explained the workings of his curse once more, just to be sure— his inner eye now saw the face of Tendo Nabiki as she'd appeared that day.

Later that same day, when it had been time to go home, Nabiki had looked at him from across the school yard, her gaze unflinching and pitiless before she'd just shaken her head and left. There had been no doubt in his mind, then, that she'd gotten word of what had transpired that day between himself and Saotome, and knowing that she knew had caused his ears to burn with the shame and a lump to form in his throat as he suddenly felt truly, truly humiliated for the first time in his life.

He'd started trying to avoid her after that, but she wouldn't let him.

Now he wasn't sure if he even wanted to avoid her any more, but now it was too late, and that made him feel very, very stupid indeed.

Rolling around, Tatewaki gritted his teeth as he punched his pillow with a white-knuckled fist. He should have known about the 'pig-tailed girl' earlier, he should have noticed earlier just how little interest Tendo Akane had in him—

—and he should have noticed who it was at that entire, wretched joke of a school that actually _had_ any interest in him at all, even if she showed it in a very strange fashion and even if he still wasn't sure what that interest even was.

And now he wouldn't get to know, either.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Nabiki woke up because she suddenly realized that she'd actually completely forgotten about the thousand yen that Kuno-chan owed her.  
Her feet hitting the floor with a slap as she swung them out of bed, she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, feeling sick to her stomach. After a moment, she reached out with a trembling hand to take a sip of water from the glass on her night stand.

She _never _forgot that kind of thing! What was _wrong _with her? What in the _world_ was wrong…with…her?

Slumping back on her bed, she screwed up her face in an effort not to scream. Gods, how could she have been so absent-minded?

That stupid, self-obsessed kendoist, always walking around like he'd forgotten to remove the coat hanger from his shirt, that stiff, boring, stupid, stupid, stupid— it was all his fault, him and his disapproving, tight lips and his narrow, sceptical eyes…!

Well, he wasn't going to get away with it! That thousand yen was rightfully hers!

Also, she'd had a disturbing dream about him stopping her, where he'd tackled her around her waist and had embraced her tightly, begging her not to leave.

He _hated_ him.

Because now she almost wished he'd _done_ that, too.

There was something she was coming to realize. She didn't like it at all, but the fact was that today had been the first time she'd _ever _been on a date where she actually wanted to meet the guy again for a _second_ date, and wasn't that just so _absurd_? For one thing, it hadn't even really_ been_ a date, and for another thing— this was _Kuno_ they were talking about here! Although he liked to think so, he wasn't exactly the prime candidate for the Eligible Bachelor Awards!

The thing was, though, that when she'd just started attending Furinkan, the first two weeks or so before people really started getting to know each other…well, the thing was that Kuno-chan actually had been popular among the girls.

Silly little first years who still had their heads stuck in junior high school and knew nothing about love, had fallen for his looks alone. His deeper voice, taller stature and strangely restricted, almost composed behaviour put him in stark contrast with the other, more immature-seeming boys, and it had only taken a day or two for him to be branded as 'cute' and 'cool' by a gaggle of giggling girls in her class.

And it had only taken another day or so after that before some starry-eyed girls had tried leaving notes in his locker and asking him out, but after Kuno had started getting a little more comfortable in his new school environment— he'd probably just been holding back before he'd been able to feel out the situation— and had begun acting more and more like the Kuno-chan she knew today, the girls had dropped him one by one, quickly put off by his arrogant eccentricities.

Nabiki had seen this movie once where the heroine had told the leading man that the first time she'd seen him, she'd thought he was _handsome_, but that then of course he'd _opened his mouth_; this seemed to be the case with Kuno-chan's rapid climb to and equally rapid fall from popularity.

Sometimes she wondered if _he_ ever wondered what happened to all the attention and the notes. If she knew him right, though, he'd probably just explained it away by 'his glorious self having overwhelmed them with shyness to such a degree that they'd decided to worship him from afar', or something along those lines.

Either way, the bottom line was that Kuno Tatewaki wasn't exactly the catch of the day.

So why did she feel as if she might say yes if he actually did ask her out on a real date one of these days?

Of course, it could have been the fact that even if he had basically paid for the whole thing, today had been the only date she'd been on where she'd had fun in a way that wasn't based on the wicked kicks she got from tricking some starry-eyed boy out of his money.

It didn't really matter, though. Furinkan had gone bye-bye as far as she was concerned, and with any luck, the Kunos would all move to Hawaii so she'd never have to see them again—

Her chest clenched then when she remembered something; oh, gods, she'd actually told him she would miss him, hadn't he? Of all the stupid things to—

Nabiki closed her eyes as she began to feel as if a headache was coming on. It didn't matter now if she never saw him again, did it, because she'd been dumb enough to tell him— how could she have— now, even if they never saw each other again, he'd live in the knowledge that she would miss him, that she would be thinking of him, and she'd never get over the regret of having uttered those idiotic words.

He didn't want anything to do with her anymore, and was now free to laugh over her confession for years to come.

She didn't want to give him the satisfaction, but there was nothing she could do about it, either, that didn't involve seeing him again, which he would just interpret as a confirmation that she _did_ miss him; and what was she supposed to do, anyway, tell him '_by the way, I don't miss you'?_

Who actually went and contacted someone to tell them that they _didn't_ miss them?

It was hard for her to fall asleep again after all that, because she couldn't shake the image of him laughing his maniacal laugh at her as he teasingly waved a thousand yen in front of her, just out of her reach.

She'd even spent 400 yen on taking those stupid pictures, which were now stuffed into the back of her desk drawer, as far they could go. She'd never had to spend a single yen on a date before.

There was definitely something wrong with her.

* * *

Her family was used to her often not bothering to get showered and dressed for breakfast, only leaving her pyjamas on and her hair in a mess since she was the only late riser in the family, but they'd never seen her looking quite this thunderous.

Her father stared at her with increasing worry as she skewered her piece of fish violently with one chopstick, obviously not giving a rat's ass about table manners, which she usually always did even if she was very tired.

Nabiki was reminding him, in fact, more of Akane than herself this morning.

"Nabiki?" Soun tried politely. "Did something bad happen yesterday?"

She only sent a withering glare his way, and he shrunk back, concentrating instead on his breakfast again. Nabiki felt a small stab of guilt; daddy had nothing to do with her problems, so she shouldn't let it all out on him.

"I'm fine, daddy," she mumbled as she took a sip of tea. "Don't worry about me," She added when he seemed doubtful, sending him a small, but reassuring smile.

Akane was looking at her with the same expression she'd worn last night, Nabiki noticed, and rolled her eyes as she dug into her breakfast, a little more controlled this time. She really didn't need any silly questions this early in the day.

By the time breakfast was over, she'd decided. Even if His Highness Kuno's smugness levels might balloon out to mushroom cloud-sized proportions about it, she'd have to go see him again. She simply couldn't go around being this irritated. And a thousand yen was a thousand yen.

After she'd gotten showered and dressed, she slipped out the door before anyone could ask her where she was going.

"I'm going for a walk." She threw this message over her shoulder to her father, and then she was gone.

* * *

Tatewaki stared at the telephone on the table in front of him.

When he'd moved to put away his old uniform jacket a moment ago, the photo booth pictures had fallen out of the pocket. He'd almost, but not quite, forgotten about them. After staring at the photos for a long while, he'd put them into a drawer and had gone downstairs with a new purpose.

He'd had Nabiki's phone number ever since first year, when she'd sold him a copy of her notes from a class he hadn't been able to attend because he'd found himself not in the nurse's office, but at the hospital, after a particularly bad fight with a third year student. Afterwards, she'd flippantly told him she'd given him a discount instead of sending him a get well card. Her phone number had been on a post-it on the second page of her notes, along with the cheerful message _Nice Doing Business With You, Kuno-chan. _If only he'd known back then that she'd never give him another discount again; she'd probably only given him the first one to trick him.

During the two or three years he'd had her phone number, however, he didn't think he'd used it even once. He'd always preferred to send a letter along with Sasuke or something instead. It had more class. Besides, even_ he_ could admit to himself that he loved having an excuse for flaunting his calligraphy skills.

Now, though, he felt as if he needed to hear her _voice_, to hear how she responded to him initiating contact again, so he could have some sort of clue as to how she felt and what she thought, even if she'd probably try to hide it.

Taking a deep breath, he reached for the old post-it with her number on it—

He jumped with surprise when the doorbell rang, almost yelping. For a few seconds his thoughts were so jumbled that he thought it had been the phone ringing; he shook his head as he realized his hand was already reaching for the receiver, unconsciously hoping it might've been _her_ calling _him_ so he wouldn't have to.

Straightening his shirt and clearing his throat, he quickly strode over to the front door. Who it was that was standing outside wasn't some sort of delivery person or his father coming back early like he'd thought; it really wasn't, and it caught him completely unaware—

"N-Nabiki?" He became so bewildered he didn't even think about the fact that he was stuttering like a fool.

Nabiki blinked; that wasn't the voice of someone who was annoyed and disgusted at seeing her again, was it? Surprised, yes, but perhaps pleasantly so. Could it have been that he didn't hate her, but that he'd just been nervous about being alone with her like that?

"Hello, Kuno-chan." She greeted him, more friendlily than she thought she might have. The fact that he wasn't puffing up his chest and gloating about her return made her suddenly feel quite generous with the benefit of the doubt.

"Did…did we have an appointment today that has slipped my mind?" He asked hesitantly, fumbling for an explanation, and it would've been so _easy_ to lie, to make up some sort of excuse for her presence, but what would be the point?

"Nope, we didn't." She shook her head slowly.

"Well, then…I thought you said we'd _never_ see each other again," He said uncertainly, a question in his eyes.

"That's because I thought we wouldn't." Nabiki grinned playfully. "But you do still owe me a thousand yen, and as you know, I don't take matters of debts owed to me very lightly."

"No," He agreed after searching her face for a moment. "No, you do not."

This was something out of the ordinary, he realized, even more so than yesterday. She didn't really have a good reason to be here. If she really hadn't wanted to see him, she could've just had him transfer the money to her account or something or she could've asked him for the money yesterday; it certainly wasn't like her to forget about money like that.

"Um…I do not have my wallet on me right now, but if you would like to come inside for a moment, I could get it." He suggested politely, relieved when she nodded.

He noticed his hand shaking a little when he opened the door wider to usher her inside.

Nabiki felt strangely elated suddenly, as if she'd just breathed in some substance that had made her lighter; if he was letting her into his house under such obviously lame pretences—she _knew _that he knew it was strange that she'd forgotten about the thousand yen the night before— it seemed as if maybe he did want her company after all.

This time Tatewaki forgot his excuses about nobody being home, despite the fact that the house really _was_ empty.

_TBC._

* * *

**Author's note:** By the way, I forgot to tell you that this fic is based on the anime, not the manga, which among other things explains the existence of Sasuke.The poem Kuno reads is by MOTO-YOSHI SHINNŌ. 

Kuno's initial popularity at Furinkan is purely based on the comments he got when he visited St. Hebereke for the duel between Ranma and Kodachi. The girls were all "Ooh, he's so dreamy," or something and then Hiroshi and Daisuke muttered "Ignorance is bliss" because the girls wouldn't have said that if they knew how loopy he was. I'm just imagining that girls who didn't know him might find him attractive at first sight.

The movie Nabiki is talking about is _As Good As It Gets_, starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. _"When you first entered the restaurant, I thought you were handsome... and then, of course, you spoke."_

I finally found out the name of that okonomiyaki restaurant chain from chapter two. It's called _Kyou-chabana_. I'm actually not sure if they have any restaurants in Tokyo or not (I know they have them in Osaka and Kyoto), but if they don't, let's just pretend they do, huh:)

**WARNING:** The next chapter will have lemon content, and it _will _be graphic, so _please_ don't read it if you don't like that sort of thing, and _please_ don't go around reporting me or something, either, because I really don't want to have my account deleted or whatever happens when you write naughty fics around here.  
**If anyone thinks I should post chapter five on another site instead of here, please tell me. **

* * *


	5. Sancho Panza's Windmills

**Proxemics**  
By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Interlude: Sancho Panza's Windmills  
**

* * *

**Author's note:** Spoiler warning for the end of Don Quixote.

* * *

_Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."_

_"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza._

_"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."_

_"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."_

_'The ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha', by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra_

* * *

Nabiki's year was doing some international literature project thing that would last for two whole weeks, and they had to choose a world famous, Western book from a list of ten, read it, analyze it, consider what kind of impact it might've had on world literature, and then present the whole thing in front of their classes.

The first school day of the project was spent by the teacher explaining the project and chatting a bit about each book before they got to consider their list of choices by themselves. After the first hour or so, she'd efficiently narrowed her list down to three choices, which included Crime and Punishment, Moby Dick and Don Quixote.

By the next day, she'd read the first chapter or so of every book, quickly discarding Moby Dick. She simply couldn't decide between Crime and Punishment and Don Quixote, though, so now it was time to check out what other people were going to read so she could choose someone to partner up with. Looking around the classroom, she saw that her friends were still crossing out what books not to read and were looking undecidedly at the big pile of books on their desk, so she sighed and opened Don Quixote, starting on chapter three. It looked like she'd have to wait until at least after lunch for people to decide what they wanted to do.

At the beginning of this their second year at Furinkan, when they'd had a change of classroom to 1E to 2E, the seating order had also changed, and she'd ended up sitting right next to her _old pal Kuno-chan_.

Aside from the usual and admittedly nastier things people might call Kuno-chan when they thought he wasn't listening, some people simply called him 'Nabiki's ATM', and even if she found it amusing, she prayed that he'd never find out. It would certainly put a crimp on business.

Either way, the new seating arrangements meant that she was now free to surreptitiously look over at him and easily find out what he was doing. Lost in concentration as he was, he didn't notice her looking. To her surprise, Kuno-chan seemed to be the only one who had actually done some preparations at home and had started reading a book already.

So he was doing Don Quixote, huh? That ironic discovery caused her to grin a little; one of the reasons she'd chosen Don Quixote as one of her potential candidates for the project was because the main character made her laugh because he reminded her of Kuno-chan. Don Quixote was an elderly gentleman who had delusions of being some kind of noble knight, and his elaborate speeches were just as bad as the ones made by Kuno Tatewaki, an ordinary boy who just happened to have a little too much money and a bokken and therefore fancied himself to be some sort of samurai.

By the looks of things, he'd already read at least a fifth or maybe even close to a quarter of the book. As their copy of Don Quixote was both Don Quixote parts I and II slapped together into one big, telephone book-like slab of literature, he'd had to have stayed up pretty late last night to get that far.

It looked like he'd started writing a little, even, as he would occasionally bend over his notebook to scribble something as he read. Maybe he'd read the book before and was just rereading it?

Or maybe, judging by the almost undetectable, but definitely present circles under his eyes, he hadn't been able to put the book down yesterday?

When the school bell called them out to lunch, Tatewaki stood up abruptly and left immediately, as if all that thinking and writing had made him feel famished, and Nabiki was about to stroll out to the school yard and find a nice spot to eat her own lunch when she noticed that Kuno-chan had dropped a piece of paper under his desk. At first she thought it might just be a spare, blank sheet of paper, but when she picked it up and turned it over, it was covered from start to finish in tiny, detailed scribbles. Her eyes darted quickly across the page as she soundlessly skimmed the text.

Eventually, she blinked in surprise. This was good stuff, actually. He'd apparently had a few of the same thoughts that she'd had about the book so far— the _serious _thoughts, of course, not the one about comparing his samurai delusions to Quixote's fantasies of being a knight— but in contrast to her bare-necessities, down-to-business style of writing, he'd expressed the same ideas in the kind of floaty but well-articulated and engaging style that she knew for a fact that their teacher enjoyed.

_Well, would you look at that,_ she smirked to herself, _Kuno-chan can write_. Okay, so the guy couldn't swing Maths at all, but he could write; probably because he read so much. If she played her cards right, maybe she could use this to her advantage?

Maybe she could do Don Quixote for her project?

* * *

She found him in the school cafeteria at a small table that he had all to himself. It was such a nice day that most of the other students were outside; otherwise it would've been total mayhem in there.

"Looking for this?"

Tatewaki looked up, slightly disoriented as he'd been absently digging into his lunch while completely absorbed by the book. As he saw that she was holding what he had to recognize as one of his own lists of notes, he gave her a look that was clearly designed to let her know that she was the bane of his existence.

"Where did you find that?" He asked in an accusative tone of voice as he reached out to snatch the notes.

"Finder's fee," She said firmly, hiding the notes behind her back out of his reach and grinning as she stuck out her other hand. "200 yen."

He looked a little surprised at that. "That's not as much of my money as you usually demand, Tendo Nabiki."

She shrugged; she couldn't risk getting him mad over being conned out of his money when she was about to ask him a favour. "It's enough to buy me some soy milk and a pack of gum to go with my lunch." Besides, she could always trick him into having after school study sessions at cafés and have him buy her coffee and food to make up for it later.

"Very well," he agreed and reached for his wallet, handing her the money.

"Kuno-chan," Nabiki began diplomatically as she gave him his notes. "I've noticed you're reading Don Quixote."

Tatewaki frowned up at her. "And?"

Leaning against his table, half-sitting, half-standing, she sent him a brief, friendly smile to reel him in. If he chose to be co-operative, Kuno-chan might just help her get an A on this project. Or maybe even an A plus? "I was thinking about doing my presentation on that book myself."

His lips tightened in anger. "You _copied_ my _notes_, didn't you?"

She blinked. Well, of course she'd taken the liberty of running it through one of Furinkan's copying machines, just in case, but she wasn't planning on using the notes unless she teamed up with Kuno-chan; she wasn't stupid enough to be caught plagiarizing someone else's work for such a big assignment as that. It simply counted for too much of their grade. "You seem to misunderstand me," she said pleasantly, leaning closer. "What I was _going to__say_ is that since we're both doing Don Quixote, it might be a good idea for us to work together on this project."

Tatewaki only stared up at her.

"Don't you think?" She prompted when he still wasn't responding.

A small frown line appeared on his brow, but other than that, no reaction was forthcoming. Apparently she'd really surprised him. Okay, so she'd never suggested anything like that before, but jeez…!

_Snap out of it, slowpoke!_

She began to grow impatient. "Kuno-chan—"

"Nabiki!"

Michiko was calling her, walking with Yuki across the cafeteria.

"What's up?" She asked casually as she hopped off of Tatewaki's table, turning her attention elsewhere.

"We've decided we're both doing Don Quixote." Yuki began eagerly. "What are you—"

"Don Quixote," Nabiki grinned at them.

Michiko grinned back. "Cool, you wanna team up?"

"Sure," Nabiki nodded and let her friends lead her away from the stunned boy behind her.

* * *

Nabiki placed her copy of Don Quixote on the nightstand, rubbing her eyes as she yawned, too tired to read anymore. As she made herself comfortable in her bed to go to sleep, she began thinking back on one particular scene in the book. She'd wanted to find out where that expression 'tilting at windmills' came from, and it turned out it came from the incident when Don Quixote was out riding and came to some old windmills and, whether it was due to some sort of crazy daydream, optical illusion, good old insanity or all of the above, he had imagined the windmills to be giants and had therefore seen it as his duty as a brave knight to 'slay' them.

When his lance got stuck in the sails of the windmill and he was lifted off of the ground, Don Quixote blamed some sort of wizard for doing it, and it made her think of Kuno-chan again.

During Tatewaki's third fight with Ranma, she'd decided to let him know about Ranma's little secret, and she'd casually strolled over to the two of them with a kettle full of hot water when Kuno-chan was hugging what he'd thought was a girl.

But she hadn't planned on him being as dense as he'd been after that. Ranma, a practitioner of the _dark arts_? Oh, _please_! If there even existed such a thing, Ranma wouldn't even be able to curse someone with a _hangnail_! Blame it on 'the wizard', indeed!

Okay, sure, so the Jusenkyo curse was pretty far-fetched as well, but it was even more unrealistic for Saotome Ranma, an immature sixteen-year-old with a D in Science, to be cooking up magical brews and spiriting little red-headed girls away in the blink of an eye.

When Tatewaki hadn't comprehended the fact that Ranma and his pig-tailed girl were one and the same person, she'd seen an opportunity and had gone for it; she could make _so _much money out of his ignorance!

But now— not considering the sweet beans, spaghetti, coffee, ice cream and the ten thousand yen she'd gotten out of him last week— she was just beginning to get just a little sick of his stupidity. The pig-tailed girl _dressed_ like Ranma,_ talked_ like Ranma, _moved_ like Ranma, was on the same level of _skill _as Ranma when it came to martial arts, had the same_ eyes_ as Ranma,_ acted_ like Ranma, had the same _name_ as Ranma— what exactly was so hard to understand about _that_?

Like Don Quixote with his 'Dulcinea del Toboso', Kuno-chan had simply picked an ordinary girl to be his goddess and fair maiden against her will, except that Tatewaki, like the closet pervert that he was, had now even chosen yet _another_ person to be his object of 'chivalrous admiration', i.e. relentlessly chasing them around in hopes of getting them to date him. At least Quixote had only admired the lady— not _ladies_; note the singular form, folks— from afar.

She felt sorry for Sancho Panza, who constantly had to put up with Quixote's delusions of grandeur. At least _she_ made some money off of it.

Strangely enough, though…no matter how insane Quixote got, Sancho still kept hanging around him.

* * *

Practical-minded as she was, Nabiki had flipped through the book until she got to the end. _Oh, wow_, she'd thought cynically after she'd read the last few pages, _the poor old man was forced to face reality in the end, on his death bed. Who would've guessed?_

It was a good book, but a little too long, and she'd always much preferred factual prose to literary prose, so about a little over halfway through the book, she was growing impatient. She liked books where she could learn practical stuff, like interesting new ways in which to make a profit, and so she was a little relieved the afternoon when she finally finished the book and herself, Michiko and Yuki started planning their presentation. Neither of her two project partners had mentioned the striking similarities between Kuno Tatewaki and Don Quixote, which was odd because it was just so _obvious_!

Wasn't it?

While she wrote the rapport for her presentation, she couldn't help feeling at times like she was writing a psychological profile for Kuno-chan or something, and she was curious as to what he'd thought about the book. What little of his notes that she'd seen hadn't been that forthcoming as they'd obviously been made at the very start of the book, but she had to wonder if certain similarities between the personal traits of the main character and Tatewaki himself had begun to dawn on him…and then, if he'd been shocked or upset or if he'd simply brushed it aside as preposterous. Nabiki was certain he'd noticed _something_, anyway, whether it had been conscious or not, because he'd seemed almost fevered in his determination to finish the book.

By the time she'd finished her rapport, somehow the whole thing just wasn't that funny anymore. The second half of the novel was more serious than the first, and Don Quixote was beginning to be the butt of the cruel practical jokes of people who thought him to be ridiculous, and slowly the veil of fantasy he'd built up in front of his eyes was beginning to evaporate, leaving only the cold, cruel reality of the world.

Don Quixote had more or less fried his mind by reading too many heroic tales of chivalry. After a while, the sweet old man actually believed those pompous, far-fetched stories, and Nabiki found herself wondering if something like that was where Kuno-chan had gotten his weak grasp on reality and his grand ideas about himself from. He could certainly brandish the outdated lingo of Japanese literature of ages past at the drop of a hat, and he had to get it from _somewhere_.

Nabiki was disappointed but not that surprised when, on the day of their presentations, Tatewaki had chosen to team up with one of his peers from the kendo club and talk about a completely different book instead.

She'd still done Don Quixote, because _she_ had never been one to flinch away from the truth. There wasn't a thing about herself that she was ashamed of, really, there wasn't a thing about herself that she wouldn't readily admit to— unless it would lose her money to do so. Tendo Nabiki didn't really have any deep, dark secrets— she just made it her business to know everybody else's.

After all the presentations were done, when everybody was chatting eagerly about how relieved they were that it was all over and how nervous they were about their grades, Nabiki slipped unnoticed into the hallway and quickly found Tatewaki's locker, putting a note into it.

As she turned to walk home, she could hear footsteps behind her and the sound of a locker opening, and she knew it was Kuno-chan by the sound of the footsteps, because he was the only one in her year who had the habit of sometimes walking around barefoot, when he was wearing his kendo uniform.

As she reached the end of the long hallway, she could feel his eyes on her, and she knew she had to be looking quite baffled.

* * *

_Kuno-chan,_

_They might just be nothing but windmills._

_Nabiki_

That was what she'd written, and her message seemed to have confused him enough to even keep him from chasing her sister and his newfound love interest, the pig-tailed girl, for an entire day. He never asked her what she'd meant by it, either, so she just assumed he'd gotten the point. The next day, though, he went right back to his old ways.

"Sweet Akane!" He declared before charging at Nabiki's youngest sister.

_Sweet Dulcinea,_ Nabiki thought humourlessly, watching the show with bored eyes.

_He's a hopeless moron_, she thought as she saw him get kicked into orbit by her sister once again. She only hoped she could be around to see the look on his face the day his delusions finally failed him.

If Nabiki had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be on his death bed.

* * *

**Author's note:** Don't worry, this _does _actually have something to do with the rest of the story. Hopefully the next chapter will be done someday soon.

2E is the number of Kuno and Nabiki's classroom in the anime.

It is with some amount of shame that I have to confess that I never had the time to read more than a few chapters of Don Quixote, watch a crappy TV special of it and research it on Wikipedia. If anybody has any objections, bring them on (but no flames, they make P-chan cry).  
I just really wanted to write this thing, and if I were to wait until I'd actually finished reading that book, there was no telling when this story would ever continue. Sorry.

Being inspired by Don Quixote isn't exactly original, but how could I resist? It just reminded me way too much of our darling Kuno-chan.


	6. Boy From School

* * *

**Author's note:** Okay, I know some people were expecting naughtiness in this chapter, but the thing is…I thought about it and realized that while I do want to include a lemon scene in this story— and not just for the sake of a lemon scene in general, either— it just didn't feel right about doing one for _this_ chapter. 

I read the chapter a few times and I guess I realized it just didn't make sense for them to do it right then. They're not there yet. They're still kinda too confused about each other, and so I changed my mind. It didn't feel like something that could've really happened at that point. It was too out of character for Nabiki, and well, I think poor Tatewaki is still kinda wary around her. I don't know, I just couldn't make it work in a plausible way.

So the bottom line is that there WILL be naughtiness— just not now, because I have to prioritize the believability of the story.

Sorry. At least the chapter is a little longer this time, though.

I can reveal that I have in fact written most of the lemon scene already, though, so it will be published eventually. I'll be publishing it on Adultfanfiction dot net or something instead of here, however. Here I'll just put the censored version.

Thanks for your reviews, everybody.

Now…on with the story!

* * *

**Proxemics**  
By Ninnik Nishukan

* * *

**Chapter Five: Boy From School**

* * *

The Kuno house was pretty impressive, Nabiki had to admit. Granted, there were a lot less…well, big, expensive things lying around than she'd thought there would be, but the house was huge, and while she was no art dealer, it was obvious even to her that a lot of the stuff on the walls and some of the furniture were valuable antiques. 

He took her into the living room— though in a house like this, it was probably called something fancy like the _parlour _or the_ drawing room_— where he'd left his wallet.

"One has to wonder…" Tatewaki said as he watched her neatly fold and put away the thousand yen bill in her wallet.

"What?" Nabiki asked idly, looking up.

He tilted his head at her. "What do you actually _do_ with all that money?"

"College fund," she answered instantly, shrugging.

Tatewaki raised an eyebrow as he gave a sound like a cross between a scoff and a squelched laugh. "Should have known."

"And some of it I lend to daddy." She went on.

Tatewaki gaped at that. "_Lend_? He is your father! Should you not simply _give _him the money?" Sure, he didn't have the best relationship with his father, but there were things like family honour and duty, weren't there?

"Why?" She asked casually, easily meeting his affronted gaze. "He's the parent, and I'm only eighteen. It's his job to give _me_ money. After all, I'll have to do the same for my own kids later on, so it all evens out eventually."

He only stared at her, unconvinced.

She shrugged again. "At least I keep the interest rates low, since he's family."

Kuno gave her a doubtful look. "Truly?"

Nabiki grinned fleetingly. "Okay, sometimes they're low. For birthdays and stuff."

He shook his head slowly as he studied her expression and found a total lack of remorse. "You astound me."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Kuno-chan." She said saucily, tossing her hair.

"If I know you right, Tendo Nabiki, you will trick some rich idiot into marrying you and will never have to provide for your children yourself." He retorted peevishly.

Nabiki fluttered her eyelashes in a sarcastic manner, pretending to fan herself with her hand. "Why, Kuno Tatewaki! I'm flattered, but we're both much too young to get married!"

He glared at her and opened his mouth to reply, but she beat him to it. "You insult _me_, I insult _you_, Kuno-chan. You didn't honestly think I'd be satisfied with just being some useless little charity-going trophy wife, did you? Why do you think I even applied to business school? I intend to make my own money, and I hope you realize that."

"You will have to excuse my scepticism, Nabiki." He said flatly. "So far I have only seen you trick other people out of theirs."

She shrugged. "I'm young now. I was a full time student who needed to make a little money on the side so I could go to college. Not everybody's born rich, you see. And as for 'tricking' people out of money, well…I didn't exactly put a gun to your head about buying those pictures, did I?"

He flushed, ashamed of his past foolishness and provoked by her unrepentant attitude. "What about blackmail? Betting pools?"

She only smirked. "Can't blame a girl for trying to make a little cash."

Kuno couldn't help himself; his lips twitched just a little as he fought down a smile. The girl was incorrigible. "I believe I owe you a cup of tea."

Nabiki lifted an eyebrow in slight surprise, but didn't object. "I believe you do."

* * *

"You've got a very nice garden, Kuno-chan." Nabiki remarked politely when they'd made themselves comfortable out on the patio with tea and some wagashi. 

"I'm glad you think so." Tatewaki replied, looking pleased. "It is not as picturesque as the orchard at our summer home, but it has its own charms."

"The alligator pond seems a little over the top, though." She added dryly, an undercurrent of baffled laughter in her voice.

He closed his eyes in brief irritation. He'd opted for a normal koi pond, but his twisted sister's tastes were a little more eccentric than that. "My sister. She likes alligators, and especially her Midorigame."

"Unusual pet," Nabiki commented, carefully trying to keep her voice neutral. He must've picked up on_ something_ in her voice, though, judging by what he said next.

"Do not worry, Tendo Nabiki." He told her chivalrously. "Midorigame will not hurt you."

She smirked slightly. "If he tries, I'll have the Blue Thunder here to protect me, right?"

He frowned deeply at that and took a long sip of his tea to cover it up. Nabiki shifted in her seat; maybe she shouldn't have said that. Usually she was all in favour of throwing her conversation partners off balance, but this was not one of those times. "Where's the bathroom?" She asked quickly. "I need to powder my nose," she added sweetly, trying to lighten the mood by being sarcastically demure.

It didn't even get a tiny smile from him, let alone a chuckle. Okay, so it was a lame joke, but it hadn't really meant to be that funny, either, she just wanted to—

"Back through the drawing room and to the left," he told her, and she almost, _almost _gave a nervous giggle when he did indeed call the living room the _drawing room_, just like she'd thought, but held it in as she walked back into the house. Hopefully that would give him a chance to collect himself a little.

Tatewaki sighed heavily once Nabiki was out of earshot. Truthfully, he was grateful that she'd left, even for only a couple of minutes, because, he realized as he sagged in his chair, he was more high strung than he'd thought. It felt like his head was buzzing like a hornet's nest, and his breath was a little laboured. He still couldn't figure her out. She was here, at his house for the first time, and they were alone— and she_ had_ to know they were alone, right? — and she'd come to him out of her own free will, and he no idea why.

Sure, there was the thousand yen, but he didn't believe that for a second. What did she want? And why did she have to look so appealing today, why did her jeans have to hug her body so fetchingly, why did the subtle, tiny gold patterning on her dark blouse have to give such a stark contrast to her mocha-coloured hair and eyes, why did she have to give him those direct looks and why did she have to be almost civil towards him and why was she trying to make him laugh and why—

And why was he even noticing these things?

When the cell phone in her handbag rang— he even knew what her ring tone was, for crying out loud, he'd heard it enough times when she was called up at school or whenever she connived him into buying her lunch over 'business dealings'; i.e. selling him stuff he didn't really need— he almost jumped out of his own skin, he'd been so deeply immersed in thought.

At the other end of the garden, Midorigame stirred lazily in his pond and gave a kind of irritated snort at the disturbance, and he didn't want to wake the alligator in case it startled Nabiki, but he didn't dare to go into her private handbag to answer the call, either— there was no way he could plunge his hand into a perilous space of unknown female articles like that— and besides, what was he supposed to say, and he didn't even know who it could be that was calling, what if—

So he just let it ring, even if Midorigame began to growl softly and tossed his head.

When Nabiki finally returned, she blinked at how he looked as he stared at her handbag as if it was a bomb that might go off at any second.

"What?" She asked curiously.

"Um, your cell phone…" He said, pointing at her handbag.

"Someone called? Who was it?"

He cleared his throat. "I did not answer it. I thought it would be inappropriate."

Nabiki grinned impishly at him when she'd checked the call display. "It was my father who called, so yeah, it probably _would've_ been inappropriate."

A serious and slightly worried look suddenly crept across his face. "Your father does not know you are here?"

Shrugging, she pressed redial. "How could he?_ I_ didn't even know I was planning to come here today." That wasn't entirely true, but she had indeed been in two minds about coming to the Kuno Mansion or not when she'd stopped at the library, and her inability to make the decision had interfered with her research. Deep down, though, she'd already known she'd end up there before the day was over.

Gaping a little, he was about to ask her about that when she held up a hand, silencing him. "Hi, daddy." She greeted the phone. "Yes, it's me, Nabiki. No, I haven't been kidnapped, that's Akane's job." She sent Kuno-chan a smirk when she saw his puzzled expression. "No, I was joking, daddy, Akane hasn't been kidnapped," Nabiki said, sighing. "What I'm doing?" Kuno had to admire the way she paused only the barest portion of a second before answering. "I was at the library, doing some research for a little project of mine. Yes, I'll be home for dinner. What're we having?"

When she'd said goodbye to her father and clicked the phone shut, she caught Tatewaki sending her a sceptical look.

"What?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Doing research at the library?"

Nabiki shrugged carelessly. "I said I _was_. As in earlier, before I came here. So technically, I didn't lie."

Kuno-chan actually gave a short, soft chuckle at that, shaking his head at her, and suddenly everything felt so much lighter, so much easier, but more complicated at the same time, because she was noticing things like the fact that his eyes lit up and that one of his cheeks dimpled when he smiled.

She smiled wryly back at him.

* * *

As they were finishing up the tea and sweets, Tatewaki realized that the flow of conversation had died suddenly, and that fact made him become a little nervous. Nabiki, however, looked as unfazed as ever where she sat and sipped the remains of her tea as she gazed across the garden. Her back was straight and poised, but her body language wasn't tense at all, and she looked like she fitted right in with her surroundings. Even in jeans she looked like some kind of empress. 

It was all in the body language and her facial expressions, he decided.

The lapse in the almost friendly banter caused him to slip into his own thoughts, which after a minute or so inevitably went to his most humiliating moment again as he looked at the alligator pond and was reminded of a certain chaotic visit to his house once upon a time and then…Saotome Ranma, and how he'd revealed his secret to him sometime before last Christmas.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was getting a headache, his eye twitching slightly as he tried to repress the memory; afraid that she'd noticed, he glanced quickly over at Nabiki, but she seemed as calm as she'd been a moment before, looking not at him but at the stone lanterns in the corner of his garden, or maybe at the large tree overhanging them.

Sighing inaudibly with relief, he sat up straighter and picked up his tea cup to empty it in a quick, refreshing swig. The trouble with thinking about how blind he'd been to the truth about Ranma and Akane was that once the thought floated up to the surface of his consciousness, it was almost impossible to get rid of. Tatewaki swallowed as he struggled to forget; the thing that might help him do that would be to pick up the conversation again, but unfortunately he had no idea what to say to Nabiki, and she wasn't saying anything, either, so he could only sit there, alone in his head with his tortured memories.

Even after everything Saotome had said, Tatewaki had held onto some tiny grain of denial because the truth was too humiliating to accept, but when he'd seen the look Nabiki had sent him out in the school yard after lunch and when he'd noticed his peers snickering behind his back the next day, he had no choice but to accept the reality of it all.

He heard the small _chink _of her tea cup settling on her saucer, then, and when he reluctantly turned his head to look at her, she was looking back.

"Something wrong?" Nabiki asked finally, and even if he wasn't exactly keen to address the subject, he was just relieved that she had said anything at all.

Swallowing again, he wet his dry lips nervously before he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me about Saotome?"

Nabiki's eyes widened; that had come completely from left field. What he felt and thought about the whole 'pigtailed girl' thing was one of the things she'd come here to talk to him about, but she'd never expected him to take it up himself. "Maybe I wanted you to find out for yourself." She began quietly.

That vague answer seemed to annoy him to no end. "Right, of course…sure!" He snapped sarcastically.

She sighed irritably. "I _tried_ dropping hints, but you never got them."

"Don't give me _that_!" He exclaimed angrily, clearly offended that she was still not letting him have the dignity of telling him the truth.

Nabiki rolled her eyes, then, looking away. "Okay, you know what? I wanted to make money off of it. How's that?"

He leaned across the table, his eyes narrowing. "That I _will _believe!"

"I have to say that I really didn't think it would get that out of hand." She began somewhat apologetically, but it was still obvious to him that she wasn't really all that sorry about it all. "I assumed you'd figure it out for yourself sooner or later, but in the meantime I wanted to cash in on the fact that you didn't—"

"You…_you_…!" He spluttered, almost choking on his own rage as he stood up from his chair, too angry to sit still.

Nabiki set her jaw, hardening her voice as she stood up as well, to better meet his gaze. She hadn't done _nothing _wrong, she knew that, but most of what had happened between Ranma and Akane and Tatewaki himself had been his own fault, and he needed to deal with that. "I'm not going to lie to you, Kuno-chan; you've been an idiot." She began in an even voice, completely ignoring the way he snapped for air in offence. "I admit that Ranma's behaviour must've been a little confusing at times, since he had a tendency to pretend that he liked you or pretend to go on a date with you if there was something he needed, but my sister _never _fooled you like that, she _never_ claimed to like you, so I can't understand how you managed to keep up your pursuit of her. How did you justify that to yourself? What kind of lies did you tell yourself?"

"You sound like you're just jealous of your_ sister_!" He snapped irrationally, desperately attempting to defend himself. This was too much! What was she trying to do? Rip out his dignity and stomp it into the gravel path of his garden?

"Oh, please!" Nabiki narrowed her eyes dangerously; she was _this_ close to actually reaching out and just _slapping_ the stupidity out of him. She was finally taking the time to explain the truth to him and _that _was what he got out of it? Was he even _listening_? "You're delusional, you're vain, you're arrogant, you're presumptuous, you have an ego the size of Hokkaido and worst of all you're _oblivious_ to all these facts!" She informed him coldly.

"Why the hell are you even _here,_ then?" He barked, furious over how deeply her words were actually able to hurt him. It wasn't _fair!_ Her opinion should mean _nothing_ to him!

"Because not _every _girl hates you," She said reproachfully before leaning forward, standing on the tips of her toes to put her lips against his. Okay, so she really hadn't counted on being in this kind of situation today, but she had to do _something_ to make the stubborn moron understand, right?

As she'd expected, he froze up completely, and she wondered fleetingly if she was his first kiss. Kuno-chan had always been very eager when it came to physical contact with girls, but there were no rumours of him actually managing to steal a kiss.

Slowly he began to respond, his mouth relenting and his lips turning appealingly soft beneath hers, but she broke the kiss off then and just looked at him solemnly, studying his wide, almost frightened eyes and his slack mouth.

"I like to bother you because when you talk to _me_, you act less like that." She told him, without even the slightest hint of sarcasm. He'd never heard her sound more sincere, in fact. "You seem saner when you talk to _me_."

He sputtered in outrage at her sudden declaration. Why did she even kiss him at all if she was just going to keep on criticizing him? Had it just been to shut him up or something? And who the hell did she think she was, saying things like that? "Oh, I see, so you think your own magnificent presence makes me a better person, is that it? And you accuse _me_ of having a large ego? Talk about being high and mighty! What do you think you're—"

Again, she kissed him, muffling his voice with her lips. When she broke it off, he looked furious.

"_Stop_ that!" He yelled at her, teeth gritting. What was wrong with her? How could she do this to him? How could she steal his lips for not just his very first but even his second kiss when she didn't even mean it? He'd_ known_ that she was devious and cynical, but now the hurt and disappointment washed over him without mercy when he realized the true extent of those personality traits. If she'd been a boy, he would have kicked her bodily out of his house. She wasn't fit to walk the halls of the Kuno estate!

Nabiki felt as if she'd just been slapped; by the look he suddenly got on his face, it was obvious that he'd noticed it too, noticed her cringe just a little. Of all the possible things he could've responded with, screaming at her to stop it was _not _a scenario she had foreseen.

"Why are you _doing_ this?" He asked, looking uncomfortable and just the slightest bit less angry. Why was she looking like _that_ all of a sudden? She wasn't supposed to look wounded! Why wasn't she grinning that evil grin of hers? Was she just acting now or was it real? The uncertainty of it all was making him more and more agitated; why did things always have to be so complicated with her? "Don't think you're going to shut me up forever by doing that!"

"You know," She began quietly, scowling at him. "Considering how you think that practically every woman in the world is _falling at your feet_, it's odd that you can't wrap your little mind around the possibility of _me_ simply _liking_ you." Wasn't _that_ ironic? She was probably the only girl in existence— except for that weirdo cheerleader Mariko, and he'd never reciprocated those feelings— who actually _did_ have any feelings for him, yet she was the only girl in the world that he _wasn't _prepared to believe could like him?

Tatewaki pursed his lips, insulted. That was supposed to be _sarcasm_, wasn't it? How could she tell him she didn't like him in such a coldly sarcastic manner? Just how poisonous did she allow herself to _get_? "_Why_ do you hate me?" He demanded, reaching out to shake her a little by her arms, his hurt and anger boiling over. She was _evil_!

"Idiot!" Nabiki yelled, slapping his hands away. "What the hell is _wrong_ with you? It's just in one ear and out the other with you, isn't it?"

"Why do you torture me so, evil temptress?" He went on, and something seemed to click into place in her mind. He was starting to sound like The Blue Thunder again, and she was starting to understand what brought The Blue Thunder out.

It seemed as if every time he was faced with something his mind just couldn't process either because it confused him too much emotionally or because his self esteem was in danger, he constructed all sorts of fancy lies to shield himself with.

Except that it was very silly to blame it on some sort of '_Blue Thunder'; _something outside of him. It was all just Kuno-chan. It was really all just him.

She'd suspected something like that— everybody had tendencies to do things like that, it was called self-preservation; he just did it to a larger extent— but to see it happening right in front of her eyes because of something _she_ had done, that was just—

She needed to put a stop to it.

"Tatewaki," She began sternly, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him towards her, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I _don't_ hate you, okay? I _don't_." It felt really weird to be trying to subdue someone who was more than a head taller than her and whose shoulders felt like they were almost twice as broad as her own, but as she saw the uncertainty growing in his eyes, she knew she had to do _something_.

She needed to tell him something straight and true, something that wasn't teasing and simply _couldn't_ be misinterpreted, not even by him.

"Please _try_ to listen," Nabiki _heard_ the pleading note entering her voice, but chose to ignore it. "I _like_ you and I'm _not _trying to torture you."

He looked so perplexed at what she was telling him that she had to wonder if anyone had ever told him that they liked him before. Or maybe his ego had been more bruised by Ranma and Akane than he'd let on.

Letting out a strained little puff of breath, he searched her face intently, looking for traces of dishonesty. "You…you're not?"

"Kuno-chan…" She sighed wearily as she looked into his eyes, her hands resting on his shoulders, and then she suddenly found herself with an armful of boy as he launched himself forward, attaching his lips to hers.

Startled as she'd been, it took her a while to adjust, but soon she opened her mouth to him and relaxed, a simple act that improved the kiss so much that a moan rolled in her throat. When Tatewaki heard this, it seemed to impassion him even more; he clutched her to him more possessively, his tongue attempting to enter her mouth, and she balked a little at this, drawing back to stare at him.

_Okay, okay, _she tried to reason with herself, _maybe this wasn't such a very smart thing to do. _A normal eighteen year old boy was already very, very easily aroused; boys that age barely had to _kiss_ a girl to get a little horny, it seemed. And this was, in addition to that, Kuno Tatewaki. He would probably be practically unstoppable once she'd started showing any physical interest in him.

That old fear was slipping back into her heart; did she really know him? What would happen if she gave into this? Would he be weird around her from now on? Would his old-fashioned soul make him demand of her that they had to get married? Would he turn obsessed with her?

In his eyes she could see the intensity she'd seen whenever he was caught up in one of his feverish fantasies about her sister or the pig-tailed girl, but to her surprise it seemed to burn with a heat that simply hadn't been there before; she figured it had to be because he was coming to understand now just how big a difference there was between fantasy and reality.

_Oh, gods, he's so tense_, she thought when she gripped his arms to keep him at a distance, uncertainty rising within her like the sea when she felt his body humming with barely suppressed, energetic lust. What_ had_ she gotten herself_ into_?

And he seemed almost _angry_ when he came at her to kiss her again, probably frustrated over her mixed signals, and what with his superior physical strength, he easily broke through the barrier she'd been trying to create between him and her with her arms. If he'd wrenched her arms away she could've been offended, but he'd simply pushed his body gently, but quite insistently against her until her arms seemed to give away out of their volition, flowing to her sides as he captured her lips with his own, pressing and sucking and pulling at her lips until she decided to open her mouth to make it less uncomfortable.

He wasn't forcing her; she wouldn't call his behaviour violent at all, and she was responding to him slowly but surely, but it also felt as if he simply wouldn't let up, either, wouldn't give her the chance to change her mind about this, and it felt somewhat frightening to her even as it felt sort of…exciting.

Good gods, but she was so good at riling him up, Tatewaki thought feverishly as he clutched her to himself, once more trying to gently probe her mouth with his tongue to gain access there. She was usually so talented at making him lose his composure with just a well-timed infuriatingly smug smirk or a flip of her hair or a sarcastic remark, but now that she was even using her lips and her body to torture him, he'd gone over the edge. He knew he was probably overwhelming her a little, but what did she expect when she said those things and did those things, and fuck, she smelled great and she felt even better—

Tatewaki couldn't help himself. How could he? And she was a big girl, wasn't she? She knew what she was doing, he thought as he felt a pang of triumph at the situation he now found himself in, drinking her in; for years she'd been the thorn in his side and look at her now! He should've known, shouldn't he? He should've known there was something going on— though even he had to admit that whatever it was that was going on now, it hadn't always been there, it had turned up later, it had built up slowly sometime during their last year of Furinkan or maybe— he hesitated for a fraction of a second as he suddenly wondered when and why and how this had all happened, but then she let out a small groan and her fingers curled tightly into his shirt and he threw himself into the exchange with even greater fervour, letting his hands start to wander, his nostrils flaring and his breath hitching in his throat, his head feeling hot as his body started responding fully to her closeness…

He just went on and on, unrelenting and intense, kissing her hotly and wetly as he pawed enthusiastically at her body, running his large, warm hands across her back, down her bare arms, and even straying briefly down to her bottom, which made a sharp, hot tingle shoot through her. Moaning, she let her tongue come out to play with his and pressed herself closer against him, grabbing his narrow hips and—

—and was that what she _thought_ it was? And what was it doing poking into her stomach?

Reality came crashing down hard as she noticed that he was in fact now busy sliding down the zipper in the back of her blouse. Nabiki decided she'd been passive long enough. With great effort, she managed to push him a feet or two away from her, sending him staggering.

They both panted heavily as they regarded each other, him dazed and her irritated. "What do you think you're _doing_, Tatewaki?" She asked sharply, her voice oddly strained.

He was gaping now, like a fish on land, and despite herself, she felt just the tiniest bit sorry for him; had she known he had this little self control, she wouldn't have kissed him.

_But you **did** know, didn't you? _

As she watched him with stern silence, she could see the subtle changes in him as he went from disoriented, to hurt, to angry and then to simply trying to regain his dignity, which wasn't easy when you were just a teenage boy with dishevelled hair and clothing and a raging erection.

"You did this on _purpose_, didn't you?" He asked, face burning as he glared at his tormentor. "You're going to use this to _blackmail _me somehow, aren't you?"

_That hurts,_ _you bastard,_ Nabiki thought, getting angry. "What, I _forced _you with my big, manly muscles to try and jump my bones?" She said humourlessly, crossing her arms over her chest, irritated over the fact that her zipper was halfway undone; it was really hard to look threatening when your blouse was whining '_help, help, I can't hold on anymore_!'

"You, _you_ kissed _me_!"

"I really don't recall giving you a green light to start undressing me." She shot back bluntly.

"But…but you weren't objecting," He said, trying to appeal to her. "So I just thought…" He felt even more confused than before; she'd insisted that she didn't hate him and that she even _liked_ him, yet she'd cut off their kissing several times even if _she'd _been the one to initiate it. What was that supposed to _mean_? Okay, so maybe he'd been a little hasty, but even if she did not wish to be fondled by him— which he was fine with; he certainly didn't want an unwilling partner— couldn't she please just hurry up and tell him what she _did_ want?

"Well, guess what? I'm objecting _now_."

"I see." He said dully, deflating a little as he nodded, accepting his fate.

There was a beat.

"That's_ it_?" Nabiki heard herself ask incredulously. "You're not gonna make a big deal out of it?"

Tatewaki frowned at her, unsure as to what she meant. "What am I _supposed_ to say? It is a woman's right to call it off if she so wishes."

"Wow." Nabiki mumbled flatly, staring at him.

He stared back, then, something changing in his eyes; he snapped for air, looking provoked. "Tendo Nabiki," He said slowly, his voice hard. "You are not suggesting that I would try to _force_ you?"

Feeling oddly ashamed, Nabiki cleared her throat; she didn't _actually_ think he'd do it, but a small part of her mind had still been just the tiniest bit fearful of the possibility of him getting carried away. "Kuno-chan, I really don't think you're quite aware of just how _insistent_ you were being back there—"

"Still!" He exclaimed, reddening; he was aware that he'd lost control a bit, but he hadn't intended to go much further than taking her blouse off without asking her permission first, to be sure of her consent. "Still, that you would think that I could sink so low as to take you by force is _unforgivable_! How can you _say_ that?"

Nabiki realized, then, that scared blind by the fact that this was Kuno Tatewaki, The Blue Thunder she was dealing with, she'd lost completely track of the fact that right now, he was also just an inexperienced, young man— they'd had their high school graduation ceremony only _yesterday_, for goodness sake— who was growing more and more confused about her very mixed signals. And he was starting to seem very, very hurt.

"I wasn't saying that." Nabiki's voice was uncharacteristically small when she spoke.

"That may be, but it is quite clear to me that you were thinking it." Kuno said, and he sounded quite tired, suddenly. "Please take your leave, Nabiki." He said before he walked away.

After a minute or two of silent contemplation, she zipped up her blouse again with some effort and followed after him.

* * *

She realized a little something about him when she saw his room. 

Kuno Tatewaki was in fact what some people might call a geek. Granted, he was much more physically attractive than the average, stereotypical idea of what a geek might look like, which was probably part of why he didn't have the low self-esteem they were supposed to have, but he was still, in essence, a geek.

He was sort of socially inept, especially when it came to girls, he didn't have many friends, and even though it was ancient tomes of poetry and classic drama stories with him instead of manga or computer games like with some of the boys at Furinkan, he was still what you might call an obsessed fan. Judging by how worn his copies of these books were, he'd read them a lot of times. He must have, considering how easily he could quote them. If he'd been quoting Klingon instead of ancient, Japanese literature, which held a certain amount of respect, people would realize just how geeky he was.

How he'd had time to memorize all this stuff besides school work and his very busy position as the captain of the kendo club was beyond her, but it might have a little something to do with his lack of social life.

Suddenly she thought of something she hadn't thought of since the start of second year, during that literature project they'd had; Don Quixote, staying up at all sorts of odd hours and reading stories about chivalrous knights until his brain practically shrivelled and he began to slowly lose his sanity to such a degree that he believed all the stories to be true…

Nabiki shivered slightly, feeling just a little sorry for him, despite his large ego and his boastful ways. He had to be quite lonely, didn't he?

Tatewaki, sitting at his desk, noticed her entering his room, but he didn't know what to say to her and didn't trust his own voice right then, so she simply decided to ignore her until she went away, his back facing her so he wouldn't have to look at her. His face hot with shame and anger, he picked up a book, hoping it would soon distract him, knowing that it wouldn't.

Nabiki regarded the taut line of his back and his slightly trembling shoulders, took in the messy hair and his mussed up shirt, and she could suddenly see just how young he really was. It was hard to remember sometimes, what with the way he spoke and the way he acted. As she looked at the vulnerable skin of his neck and saw all the school books on the shelf over his desk, saw the diary lying there, she drew a soft breath, feeling awful.

He was trying to forget his problems with a book again, but it was plain to see for her that it wasn't working. Not this time.

He was only eighteen, and not only because she knew the goings-on of Furinkan students well, she knew that like herself, he was still a virgin. She bit her lip as she tried to imagine what she would've felt like if this happened to her when she tried to get to second base with somebody for the very first time. It didn't sound like it would have a very happy aftermath.

After a minute or two of enduring her silent scrutiny, Tatewaki threw his book down in frustration, whirling around to face her. "Why are you still _here_?" When she said nothing, just stood there, looking a little forlorn, he grimaced with exasperation. "Is this what you _wanted_? Is _this_ how you wanted to remember me? Are you _happy_ now?"

"No," she said firmly as she crossed the floor, stopping merely inches from him. "No, that wasn't the plan at all," She admitted before she reached up and took his face between her hands, pulling him down as she stood up on her toes, meeting him halfway for the kiss.

It was slow this time, and she got the chance to concentrate on the taste and feel of him; he was warm, soft and wet and tasted like the tea and sweets they'd had, and just a little salty.

"Nabiki…" He murmured hesitantly as she let go of him; he slumped down into his chair again, simply staring up at her as he was afraid to make a move this time and because he was still unsure of her motives for doing this. He decided the first thing he should do was to clear up a certain misunderstanding. "About before…" He began hesitantly. "I'm sorry…I wasn't trying to…uh…I mean, I wasn't thinking of doing…I just wanted to…."

She gave a quick, wry grin as something dawned on her. "You just wanted to cop a feel, huh?"

He stared at her for a moment, his cheeks slowly turning redder, before he nodded. "You…you could put it like that, yes…"

Nabiki slid her hand up his arm and squeezed his shoulder in a friendly way. "I'm sorry, too. I have to admit I didn't really think too well about how you'd respond before I just went ahead and kissed you." She looked down at him with a slightly guilty expression.

Tatewaki blinked in astonishment. She'd never told him 'sorry' before without applying sarcasm to the word.

"I would like to see you again, Kuno-chan," She told him, placing a hand on his chest.

He clasped her hands in his, suddenly full of hopeful enthusiasm. "You would?"

She nodded. "I don't really see any reason to cut off all contact just because school is over, do you?"

Tatewaki shook his head slowly. What in the world had _been_ the reason to never see each other again, anyway…? Oh, right…that was it. "I don't think I would be bothered if you decided to keep…_bothering_ me, no." He agreed. "I think I would like that very much, in fact."

Nabiki grinned flirtatiously. "Bet you would."

"I bet you _would_ bet on that." He retorted immediately, even as he blushed slightly at her comment.

"I bet I'd win." She said softly, still grinning.

He chuckled briefly. "I think we should stop betting."

She pouted. "But it's so much fun."

He frowned. "Not for those who lose."

"Well, no. That kinda goes without saying." Nabiki scoffed mirthfully.

"And it's never you," Tatewaki added quietly.

She simply gave a small smile and shrugged at that, and he sighed, nodding resignedly. That would have to be good enough for now.

_TBC._

* * *

**Author's note:** A thing I've noticed that's kind of funny about chapter two is that in it, Nabiki leans her _chin_ on her _elbow_. _You_ try doing that sometime. It's quite a party trick if you can do it. I meant of course that she leaned her chin in her _hand_, her elbow resting on the table. Sigh. 

_Boy From School_ is a song by Hot Chip.

**Wagashi: **Wagashiis a general term for traditional Japanese confectionery, especially the types made of mochi, red bean paste, and fruits that are served in the Japanese tea ceremony. Wagashi is typically made from all natural, plant based ingredients (source: Wikipedia).

What does Nabiki spend her money on? College fund. That's my solution. Why not?

As for the whole thing with Nabiki being a cold-hearted bitch who never shows any feelings— a commonly used fanfic cliché— I totally disagree with that.  
She does care about people, and she's not evil or cold, but she _is_ selfish, cunning, manipulative and greedy when it comes to money, and I hope that to a certain degree, I've managed to work that into the story.

Next up is _Chapter Six: Walking Sideways. _

* * *


End file.
